Runic
by GhostWriterForever
Summary: [STORY ON HOLD] [Later chapters to be re-written] Severus has made the unbreakable vow to protect a warlock with his life. She is the only way to stop Lord Voldemort from creating more Horcruxes. Long Relationship Development/Adventure Based. Starts in TPOA, ends TDH
1. Chapter 1

**_AN;_** _This fic is about the relationship formed between Severus and my OC. The romance will be mainly about relationship development and not primarily about sex (though in later chapters there will be). The storyline will follow the Harry Potter series as close as possible but the addition of extra magical lore as a back story for my OC, this will also play into the story of Voldemort, The Horcruxes and other magical items within the magic-world._

Severus will be written as close to his character in the books, but his demeanour will change over time to soften. We will look deeply into his mental state and how he views himself. The OC will start off fairly innocent but as Voldemort corrupts the world she will be forced to become a badass bitch.

 _This story will contain mature themes and will not always remain happy, the story will darken over time, although I will put some focus on general Hogwarts life as I enjoyed the class and quidditch scenes within the books and films._

 _Description-less OC apart from Teal eyes. (so you can put yourself into her place, if you want to)_

Warnings and Tags: Sex Scenes, Torture, Death, Murder, Assassination, Rape, Self-Harm, Self-Loathing, Drugs, Drug Use, Trip Descriptions, Coarse Language, Comedy, Pop-Culture References, Stalking, Sub-Sev/Dom-OC, Hurt + Comfort, Romance, Adventure, Story Based, Drama, Severus/OC

 ** _Sidenote;_** _I apologise for any spelling or grammatical errors. Please point them out in the reviews and I will fix it up. This story may also contain Australian slang, sometimes I don't realise when I use them. If you find an Aussie term just google it._

 **Chapter 1 – Prologue**

The world is never as it seems, people never believe what they don't see, and this is how magic went from normal life to history, history to legend, legend to myth and then myth to fiction.

People did not believe that around them the mystical still lived, an unknown community to most, shrouded by those within for fears that the past would repeat itself. They were happier being unknown, persecution of the past still haunted the memories of their ancestors and due to this the two communities which were once so close drifted apart. They still roamed amongst the muggles; folk with no magical powers, but never showed their true colours and this is how it had been for centuries. As the muggles grew in technological advancements the witches and wizards remained in the past, not needing the technonogy of the muggle world with the conveniences of magic. Their towns hidden by magic wards made them invisible to all non-magic folk. The magic world was filled with mystery, and it had to be, for their own protection.

Witches and wizards are some of the most gifted people, they can cast spells, fly on broomsticks, create potions and some can talk to animals. These traits have always been the norm for them and once it was common for muggles to go to a witch or wizard for advice, healing draughts, prophecies and sometimes miracles. Magic-folk were born with their abilities, it was something that could not be achieved by most muggles except a lucky few.

Around the globe there were only a few non-magic folk who had the chance to do magic. Some could use magical items, where the power did not come forth from them but only through the item, though it was much weaker than a witch or wizards abilities. Muggles sometimes found the items or were given them if they were a squib; born from magical blood but had no powers themselves.

But other muggles were luckier, the power they gained was much stronger than any magic-born, this power was only given to the worthy. Runes are some of the most interesting elements, a perfect solid gem of energy. They look as clear as water and each had their own colour for the attribute they gave the user. Not only did they give them magic like any witch or wizard, but these runes gave them mastery over a unique power. Their magic was also as strong unaided as any witch or wizard using a wand or staff. Runes liked to be found by the one who they sought worthy, so they did not often stay in one place for long, they would find ways to become lost to those who tried to hold onto them and finally when they would find the muggle they thought worthy of the power, the rune would call to them, guide them closer until finally upon skin contact they would merge with the human. This merging forced the runes unique mark to be placed on this new warlock's body, like a tattoo that channelled the power from the rune in their heart to their limbs.

The warlocks were revered as the wisest and most powerful of all witches and wizards. Once they were greatly respected but their legacy was tainted by one. The magical community have always had a rough past with muggles but the tipping point that caused the witches and wizards to go into hiding was the great war of the warlock.

It started in 1642, England, a deranged man was collecting powerful items, the most powerful items, some would say. Runes. It was prophesied that there were forty-two of these runes in existence. They only appeared to those who were worthy, but this man stopped at nothing to gain them. Ripping them from others who had gained these runes trust and killing them to do so. The runes were said to contain ultimate power. Over the next two years this man gained a strong following made up of the most deranged witches and wizards all seeking power. They helped him retrieve every last rune, then finally when he found the last rune and absorbed its power the war started, the skies darkened for months as the battles carried on. The dark warlock's plan was to rid the world of all who did not follow him, and this included the muggles. The wars and pillaging of all people continued for the deathly year of 1645, resulting in the deaths of good witches, wizards and normal humans. He was so powerful none could touch him. He could conjure a shield to block any spell, he could deflect any blade or arrow and from his hands he created plagues of death and fire. The power seemed to swarm around him and the earth would rumble beneath his feet. He could raise the dead like a necromancer and could change his own and other's age with a twist of his hand. His power was infinite.

The battles caused a great divide between magical folk and the muggles until finally a great human warrior was bestowed the sword of gods, the dragons had forged the sword within the fires of the earth and convinced a water nymph to give this great king his weapon, he rode into battle and smote the warlock down. Parting each onslaught of death and reckoning spells with the blades edge until finally he struck the warlock in his heart. The warlock backed away with a gash in his chest, coloured light spilled from the wound. He looked into the sky and from his eyes and mouth this light poured, it escaped his body like flames and rose into the sky, clearing the clouds and engulfed the atmosphere from horizon to horizon with coloured light. The light pushed the black clouds back from the engulf of the world and rained down a magical light on all lands. The warlock burst into flames and in an instant all that was left was a pile of ash.

The years following the defeat of the warlock were the hardest in history for all magical folk. The non-magic folk had sworn to burn every witch and wizard at the stake for their malevolent witchcraft.

The witches and wizards banded together and decided to go into hiding, to never show their powers to another muggle or be punished for that action. Eventually the witch hunts died down as the war of the warlock was forgotten but the elder wizards decided to continue to keep the mysteries within the magic world and to let the muggles forget it existed. That is how things continue to this day. These stories have now faded to legend in both communities. Now the muggles do not believe magic exists at all and most witches and wizards have forgotten about the existence of the forty-two runes and the warlocks.

But the runes had not been destroyed. The burst of light from the evil warlock spread these stones far and wide throughout the lands. Only a few had been found and those muggles that became imbued with runes became warlocks who either passed themselves off as normal wizards and witches, keeping the myth of the runes secret to the magical world or they just did not know that the rune within them was the cause for their immense power.

Wizards often came into contact with these runes, although they could not combine with a magic user, they hailed them as sacred stones of power and often imbedded them within weapons or jewellery, using the powers of these runes without knowledge that these stones of power could be bestowed upon a worthy user.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 – New Beginnings**

 **July 13 - 1993**

Shafts of sunlight danced across the summer fields south of Pembrokeshire, the beams of light shining through the clouds created mottled patterns over the green fields that spanned in front of a figure dressed in black. She was walking along a dirt path, to her right was a 2 foot tall stone wall that crumbled away in sections and to her left spanned a field of green.

She looked out of place in her black jeans and slayer t-shirt. Her white converse were covered in dust and dirt as she continued to trudge along the path, occasionally pulling a piece of paper out of her pocket, unfolding it, glancing at the greens and blues on the page and then replacing it into her pocket.

She felt happy where she was, having left her tourist friends back in the town. They were just getting maggot at the pub like they had been doing for this whole tour and she was sick of it. Why would she want to come to another country, another continent, just to get drunk and not see anything. She didn't want to waste this experience like the rest of them, so she had decided to go for a walk after finding a pamphlet with a map of local tourist sites at the bar. One had caught her eye, it said a stone circle was only a few miles out of town.

She pulled out the pamphlet again and looked at it closely. Number Twenty-Four. She scanned the text below the map and found a small segment next to a _24_.

 _The stone circle of enlightenment. The original name and reason for this stone circles creation is unknown. The stone circle is thousands of years old, crafted from local stones and made by the Celts. Unfortunately, the largest stone in the centre split from unknown reasons in the mid-1600s. Many pagans believe that the stones reveal knowledge and enlightenment to those who touch the split stone._

This was what she wanted, to see the local history of the area. She did not want to waste her time here on booze. Why would she come all the way from Australia to drink, when she could drink just as much back in the land down under.

She looked further along the path and saw the stones, they had popped their tops over the hill and quickly came into view.

Arriving at the site she looked over the stones, they were small and covered in moss. One larger stone stood in the centre, it had a crack that ran down the middle and let light run in between the crease.

Something felt strange to her, her body stiffened up and as if by its own volition started to draw her toward the stone and into the centre. Her arm stretched out in front of her against her will and then she felt it, a pulsating heat coming from the split stone.

The crack started to seep light. It became brighter as it glowed an ice blue. As her body drew itself closer to the stone the light became brighter and started to spill out of the crack onto the stones surface. In a last glance she saw a glowing gem in the crack before the light was too bright and she was forced to close her eyes.

The next moment she felt the cool surface of the stone on her fingers before they shot with pain as something hit her palm like a bullet. She felt it surge up her arm and she shot her eyes open from the agony. The light had subsided, but the pain continued up her arm, through her shoulder and hit her in the chest. She was convinced she was having a heart attack. Her body collapsed into the ground and writhed in pain, her skin burned, and her heart ached. The pain was too much. She could not handle it. Her breathing hitched and then her head dropped to the ground and her eyes closed.

In the next few moments she felt like she was ripped out of her body and into a tunnel of white light. She knew she was dead, she had to be. Her mind started to churn, sound ringed through her brain becoming more and more intense as it raised beyond the audible spectrum. Then she was transported through the tunnel into an intense swarm of thought. Her brain was being pumped with thoughts not just her own but new thoughts, new knowledge and it happened all so fast. She could not process the thoughts fast enough as visions flashed before her eyes.

She stopped fighting and started to become interested in the visions, symbols revealed themselves and as if she had already seen them she knew what they were. They looked like a language, like letters. Then a world revealed itself to her. Runes. The symbols, 42 of them in total started to dance around in her vision, creating circles and patterns. She instantly understood their use, these glyphs were spells, thousands of them in different combinations and every combination could do something unique. Then she saw it, one rune held her focus. It looked like a lowercase n but was crossed like a t. This rune started to glow ice blue and filled her vision, it filled her every thought and then rushed into her body. The visions dissipated into her chest and she was left with blackness before her consciousness slipped away from her.

-

She slowly opened her eyes and was seated in a dark room. The walls were covered in smooth black tiles. As she registered to her surroundings she noticed she was sat on a dark leather lounge. How did she get here? Was she dead? Was this purgatory? Before she could think of an answer a ginger man dressed in the strangest garb entered the room, he had a brown cloak on over what looked to be a very dated business suit. He looked toward her with a smile that matched his pleasant face.

"Ahh, you are finally awake." He answered as his smile grew. "I just love muggle clothes." He stated as he looked intently at her shoes. He snapped out of his fascination and continued. "Pardon me, I'm Arthur Weasley. What is your name?" He asked as he pulled out a scroll from his pocket and unravelled it before taking a seat at the desk opposite the couch.

"Ummm, Na...zaire... Naz... Naz Atkinson" The name came out on its own, she had not formed the words herself. It was if her mouth created the name on its own. So, she just rolled with it. After she had said the name it felt... right. Strangely she did not remember her old name. It had just disappeared from her mind.

"Nazaire Atkinson, and your age?" He asked as a feathered quill wrote on this parchment. "Sorry about the questions, we don't have access to the Australian Ministry's personal information"

For a moment she was confused as she watched the quill move back and forth on its own. The moment of confusion lasted too long as he looked back up at her from the paper. "Oh um... 27" She answered truthfully this time. "Um, where am I?" She looked at him with her teal eyes.

"The Ministry of Magic of course, you got yourself into a bit of a situation here. I'm not sure how the Australian Ministry runs but here in the United Kingdom you aren't allowed to cast spells in front of muggles" She was shocked at the response, what was a muggle and what was this talk of magic and spells? She was so dumbstruck that she did not have the chance to ask what was going on. "Okay, now that we have your information I'll take you on through to your trial."

Her face flashed with fear for a second. What sort of trial is this? She concluded that this must be purgatory and that they would be determining if she would go to heaven... or hell. Her eyes betrayed her look of fear.

"No need to worry Naz, they won't send you off to Azkaban, you will probably just get a fine." This information soothed her fear. She wondered if Azkaban was the afterlife word for hell. "Come along, I'll take you through to the Wizengamot"

He lead her out of the room and down a hallway also with walls covered in the same black tiles. As he walked down the hall in front of her he continued to talk but this time with a tone of sombre.

"I suggest that you don't fight the charges, there is evidence against you and because you are foreign you won't have anyone to defend you" he stopped for a moment a looked back into her eyes. "Just plead guilty and pay the fine" she nodded in response.

They walked for a while, through halls and down stairs not passing a single soul until finally they came to a large room. The room was circular with wooden benches around a dip in the centre where a singular chair was sat. Her eyes looked from the chair up to the podium it was facing where a woman with pursed lips and a stern face sat. Her eyes drifted up to the ceiling which was so tall it sucked the warmth from the room, the ceiling looked as if it was a pool of shimmering water.

After a moment to sink into her surroundings Arthur gave her a small nudge and pointed toward the chair. She looked between him and it and then understood that she should go sit.

The hall was silent as Arthur made his way past a few dozen men in black cloaks until he passed the parchment from earlier to the stern looking woman. She nodded at him and he left the room.

"Miss Nazaire Atkinson, on the 13th of July you were witnessed by the town of Pembrokeshire, Wales producing a _lumos maxima_ , the light was seen by 14 muggles and was covered by muggle newspapers as an 'unexplained lightning strike'." Naz sat shocked and confused by what she heard, what was this 'muggle' word, and secondly, she wondered what a _lumos maxima_ was.

The stern woman stood up and looked toward the rest of the cloaked men in the room. "A wand was not found on her person or nearby... but we assume that because she was found unconscious that the incantation had been produced unaided" The woman looked back toward Naz. "How do you plea?"

Naz thought for a moment, then the voice of Arthur Weasley replayed in her head. He told her to accept that she was guilty. "Guilty" The word slipped from her mouth without much further thought.

The stern woman tapped a hammer on the podium. "For your crimes you will pay a fine of two hundred and thirty gold pieces"

Naz stood up and patted at her pockets before pulling out a wallet. "How much is that in pounds?"

The whole room looked toward her in shock, one man was specifically interested. He was an old man with a long beard, soft eyes framed by half-moon glasses. He looked as if something had just clicked in his brain as his eyes widened.

"I'm sorry miss, but we do not take muggle money" The stern woman said as her jaw dropped.

"I don't have any other currency" Naz responded with worry on her tone. Instantly the old man stood up and spoke.

"Perhaps she could offer community service, what do you specialise in?" His voice was loud and authoritative but still comforting. Before she knew it, her mouth started to move on its own again.

"I am a master of Ancient Runes" she answered blankly. Wondering why her mouth was saying things without her consent.

"I would request the Wizengamot to redefine the sentencing. Perhaps community service?" The old man addressed the stern lady at the podium.

"What are you suggesting, Albus?" She responded.

"I require a new study of ancient runes professor, perhaps she could serve the community at Hogwarts" He suggested with a small smile playing at his lips.

The stern woman looked back and forth between the old headmaster and the defendant. She sighed. "All in favour" Albus' hand rose among a majority of the other people dressed in black. "Granted"

At this the hammer struck again and the room started to clear quickly. It looked as if this trial had just been a nuisance for most of them.

Arthur was waiting by the door Naz had entered earlier. And behind him the old wizard was striding toward them.

"Good evening Miss Atkinson, I am very pleased to meet you. My name is Albus Dumbledore" he offered a hand to shake and she obliged.

"Albus is the Headmaster of Hogwarts school. I guess you will be working there now. You might be teaching some of my children" Arthur said happily, a smile returning to his face.

"Excuse me Arthur, I think I will be taking Naz back to Hogwarts and give her a tour of the grounds." With that he placed his hand on the small of her back and lead her swiftly, almost urgently through the halls. He walked with a fast pace getting faster up the stairs until they both reached a huge gallery. The area had a fountain in the centre and along each wall were fireplaces. People rushed around busy, paper planes seamed to zip through the air, changing directions of their own accord. Then she saw it out of the corner of her eye, one of the fireplaces had burnt green before someone stepped out of it and dusted themselves off.

All this movement and... magic was overwhelming. Albus noticed her distress and simply leaned in to whisper. "It is okay, this is all real, it's not just in your head" her eyes shot open. She looked around, at it all. Noticed so many more strange things happening. Magic was real? No. She concluded that she must have been dead, this was real... for the afterlife.

The two walked toward one of the fireplaces. Then Albus swiftly turned to Naz with a pot in his hand.

"Listen to me carefully, I want you to grab a handful of this powder" he motioned to the pot and she obliged by grabbing a fistful of powder. "Stand in the fireplace, say _Honeydukes_ and then throw the powder down." She looked at him confused for a moment before he nudged her into the fireplace. Saying the word, she threw the powder down and, in an instant, green flames rose around her. They were cool to the touch. She felt her body jolt before she was swept up into the flames and landed in another fireplace.

She stepped out into a bustling tavern filled with people drinking. All of them were dressed in robes like those she had seen all day. The fire roared behind her and a familiar old hand held the small of her back again before leading her through the old tavern.

She saw mugs full of mead float past her to land on a table nearby. A broom in the corner was sweeping up mess on its own. Some of the strangest things she had seen but she brushed it off as normal, besides she just teleported through a fireplace.

"Albus!" A voice yelled from one of the tables. The voice was high pitched but still sounded masculine. Naz could now see why the voice was like this as an unnaturally short man with black hair started to waddle closer.

"Filius, how have you been?" Albus asked in a soft voice but continued to walk toward the exit.

"Good, good, who is this?" The small man squeaked.

"Hogwarts business, best be off" Albus continued to lead her toward the door and pushed her out of the tavern. She heard him continue before he followed her out into the night. "You will meet her later"

The old man looked down toward Naz as they walked up a path and out of the small village. "Sorry about the rush, I have something I need to... understand" she just nodded again in response, she was never good at holding conversation, so she just found silently agreeing was the best way to converse. She always liked people who were comfortable to just sit and be in company, not having to talk all the time. Frankly, chatter boxes pissed her off.

They wandered up the hill, coming toward a clearing surrounded by a dense forest and a lake. In front of them along the path was a run-down gate before a bridge. Beyond that it looked as if the path wore away to nothing. She looked at Albus with confusion all over her face. He thought for a moment and then smiled before putting his hand amongst his robes and pulling out a long thin stick. He waved it in front of the gates and before her eyes they started to change. Lichen, moss and cobwebs on the gates started to melt away, the bent bars snapped back into place. The crumbling road ahead started to shoot bricks out of the ground and beyond that a castle started to come into view.

Her eyes widened to behold the new site before her. Seeing the glint in her eye Albus' smile became larger.

He swished his wand again and the gates parted and swung open.

"You're a... wizard" She gaped.

Dumbledore laughed before he spoke. "That I am" He then started to walk through the gates and along the bridge.

She followed along looking around as if stunned. He lead her up to a courtyard and through two massive gates. The castle was empty.

He guided her up some stairs and to her amusement the paintings on the wall greeted her. Some smiled and waved. She would have stopped to chat to one who had introduced himself as a Sir William Barron. He stood over the carcass of a lion with an old safari hat on but Albus was still in a rush to get to somewhere, so she followed on. She also wanted answers to all of this. It must have been the afterlife with all this magic around her.

They went up a multitude of stairs, some even moved which at first shocked Naz. She had almost fallen over the bannister as the staircase started to move. They made their way higher and higher through the castle. But before long the two turned into a corridor and stopped at a gargoyle.

Albus cleared his throat. "Toffee Eclairs" He spoke. The gargoyle stepped out of the way to reveal a staircase which tightly spiralled upward. He lead her up to his office door and it opened at his presence.

"Please come in, I need to understand something and then I will explain everything" He stated before gesturing his hand into his office.

As she entered the office she noticed so many odd things. Firstly, cabinets were full of different trophies, treasures and some clockwork pieces she didn't even know what use they had. On top of the cabinet was a hat that looked as if it had moved to grimace at her. To the other side of the circular room was a seating area beside a warm fire with a pedestal surrounded by mirrors off to the right. In front of her, raised up on a platform, was a desk piled with papers and a huge cushioned leather chair.

The older wizard motioned for her to follow him toward the pedestal. As she drew closer she noticed that a shallow bowl was floating above it and was filled with a silvery liquid.

"I need to ask you to do something before I can tell you what you want to know" he looked at her with the most sincerity. "Please bring to the forefront of your mind the events that happened before you found yourself in the Ministry" she nodded, and he placed the long thin stick toward her temple. He drew it back slowly withdrawing a thin stream of silver. It cut off as the memory ended.

He thanked her before placing the thin stream into the bowl of silvery liquid. Nodding toward the lounge area he motioned for her to sit. Then he placed his face into the shallow bowl for a few minutes. She was surprised he could hold his breath for so long as she sat waiting for him to emerge. After a long moment he withdrew, gasping for air.

"Just as I thought" his face looked grim as he spoke. He walked over toward the lounge opposite Nazaire and sat down.

"Cockroach cluster?" He picked up a bowl and offered it toward Naz. She grabbed one of the dark shiny sweets and popped it into her mouth. It was sweeter than she had expected, and her mouth started to water.

She waited a moment, looking into his bright blue eyes before he spoke again. "First of all, you are not dead. This is real." He gestured around the room. He hesitated before he continued. "but I am afraid you will have to stay here, you cannot go home" he looked solemn.

She nodded in response, she didn't even know her way out of the castle, besides she was more interested now in everything around her. She did not want to leave. Her life was shit back in Australia anyway, basic office job, traffic jams in the morning and afternoon, no partner, no friends, no enjoyment.

He paused for a moment before he continued. "I should tell you what has happened. That stone circle that you touched was imbued with a powerful energy that you absorbed. It found you worthy of this power, but I am unsure what this power is, we will have to figure that out in time. What I do know is that you can now do everything I can, you are essentially a witch" She looked at him angrily.

"That is not a nice name to call me!" She retorted.

"No, I mean... you are physically a witch, you can do spells and incantations as I can" he implored as she considered what had been said to her.

"Show me" she ordered.

"There is more, you were a muggle... non-magic folk. Also, you can do things that I cannot, for example see that book, try to lift it with your mind... outstretch your arm if you need to" She looked between him and the book. Then she reached her hand towards it and with all of her might told it to raise... it did. It didn't just raise it threw itself into the ceiling with force.

"What... I did that?" Naz questioned her new abilities.

"Correct. But there is more, your unaided abilities are much more powerful than any wizard or witches" he gave her a small smile before his face turned dark again. "This is the concerning part, the power you hold has been forgotten about by most of the wizarding world. Therefore, the ministry thought you were just a witch, but you are more than that. You are a warlock. You cannot tell anyone this or you will be in grave danger. Neither can you use this unaided magic... we will get you a wand tomorrow." He looked at her with stern eyes.

"I... understand" She looked back into his bright blue eyes and nodded once. "I have so many questions..."

"They will have to wait for now, dear. I must discuss an important matter with one of my staff." He snapped his fingers and a strange creature appeared out of thin air. It was small with a disproportionate head and pointed ears. He whispered something to the little creature and it disappeared with a pop.

"As for your accommodation, you will be staying in a spare living quarters near the astronomy tower. I will have one of the house elves guide you there" he snapped his fingers and a different one of those same creatures appeared.

"Hello Miss, my name is Tibby" It looked up at her with huge green eyes and a half-crooked smile.

She lowered herself down to Tibby's eye level and offered her hand. "Hello Tibby, my name is Naz" The small creature hesitated for a moment, looking between the hand and her eyes, then decided to grasp hold of one of her fingers and shake. This produced a giggle from Naz as she noticed the small size of the creature's hand.

"This way Miss" he said as he walked to the door out of the headmaster's office.

Suddenly the doors burst open with force and in the doorway stood a tall man dressed in a thick black robe, it looked as if he had an excess of layers on considering it was summer. As Naz looked up from his boots, to his robes and then to his face she noticed his dark raven-like hair, it looked smooth and shiny. His face held a hardened expression that matched his crooked nose. Aside from the sternest of his face he was mysteriously attractive, especially once she noticed his black eyes, they reflected the light of the fireplace.

She stood shocked for a moment before she felt a small hand grasp hers and started pulling her along.

"Ahhh Severus, prompt as always…" The old headmaster stated before the doors closed behind Naz and were sealed shut with the sound of a lock engaging.

After Tibby the house elf had guided her to her room, it appeared again a few moments later with a tray of roast dinner, fruits, ice cream and some cheese and crackers as well as three different drinks.

"Some dinner for you Ma'am" The little creature stated before disappearing one last time.

The room was grand, not what she had expected. It was larger than her apartment back in Sydney and the huge arched window looked over the lake and part of the forest. She noticed a small hut along the forest edge and then saw the door open and a huge hairy man stepped out. She smiled and shook her head. Life was about to get so interesting she thought to herself.

She retired for the night with thoughts rushing through her brain. She was a warlock and could do magic now. It amassed her. But she couldn't tell anyone or use her magic unaided. Why? She needed to find out what warlocks were and how she got this power. Perhaps this school had a library, she decided she would need to do some research. After tossing and turning in the comfortable bed the rush of thoughts died away and her breathing slowed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – 13 Inch, Black Walnut with a Dragon Heartstring**

 **July 14 - 1993**

She awoke the next day in an unfamiliar bed, she wondered if the events the day before had just been a very vivid and long dream but upon opening her eyes she noticed the stone ceiling. Rolling her head to the side she looked out of the huge arched window which was spilling light into her room. She saw a flap of feathers before an owl landed on the window ledge and started to tap on her window with its beak.

A small panel started to appear on the window, as if the castle was changing to accommodate the owls need to be let in. Naz stretched as she lifted herself off the bed, then walked over to the window and opened the now fully appeared hatch.

The owl fluttered into the room elegantly, it was a black tawny owl with bright yellow eyes and attached to its leg was a message. It offered the leg and Naz swiftly un-buckled the black leather holster and retrieved the scroll. The owl squawked some thanks before jumping back out of the window and taking flight, angling to fly around to the other side of the castle.

She unravelled the scroll and read.

 _Miss Atkinson,_

 _The headmaster has informed me that you will require a wand and has asked me to escort you to Olivanders._

 _We will depart after breakfast in the Great Hall._

 _S.S_

Who was S.S she wondered. She concluded that she would find out after breakfast. Her stomach rumbled in response. Then the thought dawned upon her, she had no fresh clothes, she would just have to shower and put the same ones back on.

So, she walked over to the other door within the room and opened it. Instantly the room started to expand from the size of a broom closet to a modest sized room, a huge claw footed bath with a showerhead over the top appeared within the stone walled room. A large mirror appeared against the blank wall as well as a sink and toilet at the other side. She was amazed that the castle could change its layout to accommodate her. Magic is wonderful she thought.

She slowly stripped off in front of the huge mirror and hesitated as she noticed a mark on the skin of her belly. She quickly ripped the shirt off revealing what looked like white tattoos all over her body. They were raised a little as if they were scars. These tattoos started from a circle of glyphs on the left side of her chest down her arms, across her belly and down to her feet. Each of these symbols held meaning, she had seen them before when she had touched the stone. She sighed as she ran her fingers over the raised marks. Were these markings normal for a witch or wizard she wondered, perhaps that was why they all wore long robes. She then remembered that she would have to do some research in the library, she wanted to know everything about witches, wizards and especially warlocks.

She started up the water and it was instantly the right temperature, she didn't even see separate hot or cold taps, just the one. The shower was quick but refreshing. As she exited the tub she noticed her clothing that she had placed on the sink were now missing and replaced with a fluffy towel. She wrapped it around herself and walked out of the bathroom. Upon entering the bedroom, she noticed that the bed had been made and a fresh pair of clothes had been laid out. There was a black corseted dress and a set of black over robes with a cloak. At the base of the bed was a pair of black leather boots. She looked at the ensemble and nodded. At least it was all black, just like she always wore. On top of the dress was another letter.

 _Miss Atkinson,_

 _I realised that you would not have any clean clothes after your trial yesterday, so I have had Minerva transfigure some clothes for you and sent them up with a house elf. You will find that your wardrobe is now filled with clothing._

 _Best wishes on buying your first wand today,_

 _Albus Dumbledore_

She smiled and got dressed quickly, she wanted to see so much more of the wizarding world. She felt like a child again, re-discovering everything. She struggled with getting herself into the ancient clothing, unsure what went where but eventually she was happy with how it all sat.

She then made her way down corridors and staircases, thinking she was lost many times. Eventually she found the changing staircases and quickly made her way down each one, scared they would move while she was on it. One of the paintings caught her attention, it was a large painting of a voluminous woman just opposite the staircase she was on. Naz walked up to it and pondered for a moment. Her thought was interrupted abruptly as the painting spoke.

"Password!" it ordered.

"I don't have a password, sorry." Naz replied with a smile.

The Fat Lady looked shocked for a moment and then regained her composure. "Then I cannot let you in" The regal woman said over her nose.

"May I ask… What are you guarding?" Naz was curious and gave the woman a sly smile.

"I am the entrance to the Gryffindor common room" The Fat lady answered as if Naz was an idiot.

Naz paused for a moment and squinted her eyes. "Gryffindor?" Naz was flushed with confusion.

The Fat lady huffed before she spoke. "One of the four houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin" The final name was spat off her tongue as if it were venomous.

Naz just hummed in response. She assumed it was getting quite late into the morning, so she rattled off an excuse to get away from this pretentious portrait. Naz wanted to know more about Hogwarts, what were these houses and more importantly what was she going to teach. She continued to walk down stairs as she thought. If she was correct the school year would start in early September which meant that she would have a little over a month to learn about Hogwarts and hopefully read enough about ancient runes to be able to teach something. Why had her mouth done that to her, it was as if it were on auto pilot when it told the headmaster that she was a rune master.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs she turned to her right to see the Great Hall. She had walked past it on her way into the castle the night before but now that she had a better look at the room she noticed that the ceiling was similar to the one in the Ministry, it was enchanted to look like the sky outside. This was breathtaking to see the grey-blue sky fading into the buttresses of the ceiling.

As her eyes and head moved back down she noticed the hall was very large and very empty. Four long tables spanned most of the hall before a raised platform which had the only occupied table. Five seats were filled, Dumbledore sat in the middle speaking to the small man Filius she had seen the day before and on his other side was a stern looking woman with greying hair pulled into a tight bun. Naz assumed this would be Minerva, the woman who had made her clothes. Contrasting the tiny Filius was a huge, broad man with a thick beard and wild hair. He offered a wave toward Naz as she walked along the hall toward the head table. The four were deep in conversation as they ate their breakfast. What struck Naz's interest was at the far-left end of the table sat a man dressed in all black, if she remembered correctly this was Severus, the man who Dumbledore had spoken to last night.

She thought back to the message earlier. _S.S._ perhaps it was Severus who was taking her to buy a wand. The dark man had not noticed her entrance and had his nose in a purple book, it looked like it had a cauldron on the front that bubbled away.

As she finally reached the head table she was greeted by Dumbledore. "Miss Atkinson, I am sure you slept well" he smiled before he continued. "This is Rubeus Hagrid, Filius Flitwick and Minerva McGonagall" He recited pointing toward each of the staff members as he said their names. Naz greeted each of them with a handshake and a smile before she glanced over toward the man in black.

She cleared her throat and asked quietly. "Who is that?" as she pointed at the other in the room.

"That is Severus Snape, he is the school's potions master and will be the one to take you to Diagon Alley today" Dumbledore answered as if he were very proud of the man at the end of the table. He then gestured toward him and spoke. "Go introduce yourself" he said with a smile. The other three's expression changed, they looked a little worried. Naz hadn't noticed this change in the groups demeanour as she walked toward Severus and sat in the chair next to his.

He did not look up from his book or even acknowledge her presence. After a short silence Naz spoke up. "Thanks for offering to take me to Olivanders today" She spoke in a level voice.

He huffed and closed his book with a snap. "Evidentially I did not _offer"_ His words were harsh and relentless, they rolled off his tongue in a deep baritone which caused Nazaire's breath to hitch for a moment. She could not believe that voice and coldness had made her brain hesitate. She had no response. He left her speechless. So, she just took a sip of whatever liquid was in the goblet in front of her, it was horrid. The orange liquid swished around in the glass. She had tried the pumpkin juice last night that the house elf had brought to her and resulted in the same reaction, a deep gulp and a muttering of "Disgusting". To her surprise the body next to her silently shuddered for a moment. Did he just laugh at her? As Naz looked at the man next to her, he was biting his lip before his face returned to its usual stoic demeanour.

After she had finished her breakfast and followed Severus out of the castle, trying to keep up with his long strides, the sun was lifting above the trees of the forbidden forest. The two figures in black continued along the cobblestone path and walked across the bridge and out the gate she had entered the day before.

"We are going to be apparating to Diagon Alley, I will need you to firmly hold my forearm" He offered his left arm but swiftly withdrew it as if her touch would burn him. He moved around the other side and offered her his right arm. She wondered what that was about but did not verbally question it as she gripped onto his arm tightly.

For a moment nothing happened, then everything around her started to twist and she felt as if she were a piece of dust being drawn up through a vacuum cleaner. Another presence could also be felt, pressed tightly up against her side and was very warm, somewhat comforting in this uncomfortable situation. She felt like her insides were doing backflips, then her stomach tightened as the ground hit her feet again. She felt vertigo rush through her body and make her head spin and before she could stop her self she was falling over. Luckily Severus was fast. His arm was around her waist before she hit the floor pulling her tightly up against him to hold her upright. She stood there trying to catch her balance before she realised how close he was. She had been close to men before, but they were usually much younger than her and had the bodies of boys. But Severus was tall, manly and strangely handsome. She blushed for a moment and pulled out of his grasp once her balance had returned.

"What was that all about?" She asked angrily.

His expression remained unphased as he responded. "That was apparition, it can be" he paused "stimulating, the first time" She couldn't tell if his response was impartial or flirtatious. She looked away again to hide the sly smile on her face as her mind had a thought about Severus stimulating her some more. No. she told herself. She was not allowed to have lewd thoughts about a future co-worker, was she? She was not sure what the social norms in this society were. Perhaps it was okay. But then her mind struck into a deeper state. Why would he ever want her, he probably already has a Mrs Snape at his home, she concluded.

Little did she know but Severus had not held a woman so close in his life, it was invigorating and made his suppressed heart thump loudly. When she had pulled away from he felt his heart sink in his chest. But as always, no emotion escaped his cold features.

The two walked along the alley, passing a multitude of stores and stalls. She noticed so many things that peaked her interest. One store was an owlery and many were perched out the front tweeting and squawking at them as the two passed by. Another store sold what looked like old brooms, they lined one window. In the other window was a sleek black broom with a pointed end and on its handle said _Nimbus 2001_ , she could not see how anyone would use this to sweep the floors but then it clicked in her brain, these were witches and wizards, they use the brooms to fly.

In that moment of realisation, she tugged Snape's sleeve which he pulled his arm away swiftly as if she had burned him. His face snapped to hers and he asked irritably "What?"

Shocked by the reaction she asked shyly "Would I be able to fly on a broom?"

He hesitated for a moment as if he were unsure. Then furrowed his brows and responded "I don't see why not"

Naz gave him a big smile and made her eyes big. "Would I be able to borrow your broom?"

"N…" he started before he looked toward her and hesitated when his black eyes met her teal ones. His voice hitched and then he continued, changing his intended response. "Not today, but we will see"

They continued past more stalls, she was particularly interested in the book store called _Flourish & Blotts _but as her mind drifted into books she smelt one of the most wonderful scents, it was like incense mixed with spices and the smoke of a eucalyptus bush fire. It reminded her so much of home. Upon opening her eyes after the inhale of aroma she noticed the smell was wafting out of _Slug and Jiggers Apothecary_. "Severus" she said this time, noticing he did not like being touched from the previous reaction.

She received a hum in response.

"Would we be able to go in there?" Naz pointed at the apothecary door. A strange little troll-doll-like beast that was sat in a hanging pot by the door stood to attention and in a grungy little voice piped in.

"Yes, Miss Witch, come in here, we have all you need for a draught. Perhaps a love potion for grumpy old Snape" as the words escaped its mouth, the creature cackled and laughed, slapping its little knee with its hand.

Severus grumbled at the little beast and shot the creature a glare before he spoke. "I am actually in need of some wolfsbane" he thought for a moment as he remembered Professor Lupin would be teaching his beloved defence against the dark arts this year. "Come along" he walked swiftly into the store but before he did he flicked the little creature in the hanging pot as he entered the front door.

The walls were covered in wooden drawers that were haphazardly opened or half closed. Each drawer had names on it in both common and the scientific name. The central area of the old store had shelves with potions, draughts and vials each neatly placed and contrastingly organised compared to the ingredients. On the counter were five live cauldrons bubbling away. The aroma within the store was intense, like the smell of a candle shop but more natural and less sweet. Naz spotted the cauldron that was producing the familiar fragrance and walked over to it to smell the pile of burning eucalyptus leaves below the pot.

"Ahh you love the smell too… that was a hard one to come by, had to go through a muggle for it. They said it had been flown over here, I didn't know muggles could fly, fancy that." The old man was quite talkative and Naz laughed at the fact that wizards did not know what planes were. He thought she was laughing at his joke and joined in with a cackle before he noticed the other quiet presence in the room. "Severus, sorry I didn't notice you were there." It was a surprising thought that he hadn't been noticed, Naz could not stop thinking about him and the closeness they had shared earlier.

"I require a bulk load of wolfsbane" he said aloofly.

"Are you okay, Severus, haven't been bitten by a dog, have you?" the shopkeeper laughed heartily but stopped mid laugh to look at Severus with concern.

"It is not for myself, bill it to the school" Severus replied coldly, not having found the joke funny at all.

"Right away" The old man hurried off into the back of the store, out of sight.

"Are you done here?" Severus asked indifferently toward Naz who had been looking at different potions, picking up ingredients and smelling them. Severus was quite impressed by her interest in his trade, usually people found the craft a bore like his dunderhead students.

He received a hum in response as she placed a bezoar back into the correct box. "These are antidotes to most poisons, right?" He was shocked for a split second it showed on his face as his mouth opened slightly.

"How do you know that?" he questioned with interest.

"I don't know how, I just know" She responded surprised at his reaction.

Severus hesitated for a moment, wondering how much information this woman knew. Dumbledore had in fact told him of her condition, confiding this information in him with the expectation that he provide protection for her alongside the protection he provides for Harry Potter. He concluded that he would need to read more about Warlocks and understand how she knew information that a prior-muggle should not. "Time to go get you a wand" He stated as he walked out the door, ducking a second time to accommodate his height.

She followed him out of the store in an almost run to keep up with his long strides which he slowed down after he realised she was struggling. The two continued down the alleyway. Naz could see a massive building at the end of the street. The pillars on its front were leaning in different directions and it shot up into the sky. "What is that?" she pointed at the large grey building.

He huffed as if it were the most basic knowledge. "That is Gringotts, the wizard bank"

He received an _ahh_ in response. Her attention was now on the store in question. _Olivanders_. She followed him into the store and was greeted by the most extraordinary man. He had white hair that puffed out of his head like Albert Einstein and eyes so silver they reflected like chrome. The mans voice broke the silence within the shop as he spoke with wisdom and knowledge. "Severus, last time I saw you in this shop you were but a small boy, you have come a long way since then... a very... long... way" His silver eyes looked from Severus to the other in the room. "And who might this be, I sense you are in need of a wand" before she had time to introduce herself he had disappeared into the back room. Boxes could be heard hitting the ground and he worked his way through the store room and finally came back with a wand. "Try this"

He slowly opened the box in front of her. She grasped the dark ash coloured wand and lifted it to look at it. The wand was quite long, and thin. The handle was plain and smooth apart from a slight two-millimetre elevation around the base and where a hilt of a sword would be. The shaft of the wand was intricately carved with different runes and glyphs. It looked perfectly elegant, but she was not sure what the shop owner wanted her to do as he stared at her still hands.

"Well… try a spell" he spat out after some time looking slightly annoyed. She faltered for a moment. She didn't know any spells, did she? She thought hard, and then it came to her. What did they say in that damn hearing? _Lumos_ something. She damned her brain for not remembering, but she decided to see if half the spell would work.

" _Lumos_ " The tip of the wand started to glow brightly, just enough to light the room up.

"Perfect, I knew I had it, first go this time" Olivander was overly proud of himself and gave a large smile. "I am very surprised that wand accepted you, it is a 13-inch, black walnut with a dragon heartstring. It seeks a master of good instinct and powerful insight. Not easy to master but when paired with a sincere and self-aware owner they become one of the most loyal and impressive wands, with a particular flair in all types of charmwork." He looked between Naz and Severus with a glint in his eye, as if he were speaking for the wand.

"Thank you, Mister Olivander" Naz took the wand, and had another idea. Like Dumbledore had told her, think of what you want it to do she told herself. In an instant she pointed the wand at the wand box and it began to shrink, just small enough to put into her pocket and so she did. With a smile she walked past Severus and out of the wand shop.

The morning had long passed, and her stomach grumbled for food. She looked behind for Severus as she stepped out of the doorway. She looked at him again with those big teal eyes.

"What?" He asked, irritated by the effect those dark green-blue eyes had on him.

"Do you want to get Lunch?" She hadn't meant for the words to come out like that. It sounded like she was asking him on a date.

He also paused for a moment and then nodded in response before continuing to walk back down Diagon Alley, motioning for her to follow.

The two walked side by side, passing all the stores Naz had noticed before until they came to a solid red brick wall. Severus whipped his wand out swiftly and started tapping the bricks in a well memorised order. Each brick he tapped looked as if it had been hit the same way millions of times. Suddenly the wall started to separate down the middle, as the bricks folded apart a sign could be seen above a very black door. _The Leaky Cauldron_ it read and had an image of a cauldron with green ooze seeping out of it.

The two passed through the brick threshold and entered the back door to this tavern. It was much less bright than _Honeydukes_ had been, with only very small windows along one wall and dark wood around the rest of the establishment, made the whole area dank.

The two walked along the back hall toward the main area but not too far up the hall something caught Naz's eye. It was a wanted poster, for a man named _Sirius Black,_ who had escaped from Azkaban. She faulted for a moment to look at the poster and then jogged to catch up with Severus who was now almost seated at one of the private corner nooks.

She sat down on one of the strangely comfortable solid wood chairs, it sunk in like it was cushioned. Everything has been enchanted she thought to herself. Not a moment passed before a wicked looking old witch wandered up to the table, in a wild voice with a typical witch cackle she spoke. "And what can we get for you dearies today?" She was what anyone would think of first if you mentioned _witch_. Scraggly grey hair, warts on her nose and a tattered robe.

Severus spoke up for them both. "We will get a bowl of fried newt tails" he spoke in an emotionless tone and glared at the witch as if to tell her to go away. Once the old woman was out of earshot he spoke again, this time with a softer tone touched with a sprinkle of sarcasm. "Everything else on the menu could be passed off as dragon excrement" Naz snorted at this response, trying to keep her giggles at bay. How did this man do it to her? He had made her laugh with the way he shrewdly worded this immature joke. After her choked giggles subsided she looked up at the tall man seriously.

"What did Sirius Black do to get into Azkaban?" Naz asked with genuine curiosity but the dark murderous look in Severus' dark eyes let her know she had hit a nerve close to home. His eye twitched to reinforce the anger and she wished se had never asked the question.

He sat and fumed for a moment before he opened his mouth. "That dog betrayed his best friends to the Dark Lord, resulting in their deaths and an orphaned boy, Harry Potter." He bit the inside of his cheek as the anger continued to throb through his body. He would never forget Lily or the promise he made to protect her son.

The mention of a dark wizard interested her as she had not met any malevolent witches or wizards yet. "Who is the Dark Lord?" She asked with more concern on her face than she had wished.

Severus thought on his words for a moment before he spoke very quietly, just above a whisper. "Voldemort is a very powerful dark wizard, he had a following fourteen years ago of equally dark wizards, until that same night Sirius betrayed his parents, Harry Potter, survived the killing curse rebounding it onto the Dark Lord. But in recent years as the boy grows up, Voldemort has been trying to come back, to revive himself." She was left with mouth agape, shocked about the story she had just been told until finally her trance was broken by the sound of a bowl landing on the table.

It was literally fried lizard tails, but she was so hungry she could eat anything. Grabbing one and dipping it in the green sauce before proceeding to pop the tail into her mouth. It was much better tasting than it looked. Her mouth watered as the combination of the crisp crumb coating and the oily newt tail coated her mouth. It tasted as if it had been seasoned with paprika and rosemary. The green sauce had a touch of jalapeno spice and was creamy and warm. The meal went down well, her having eaten most of the bowl as Severus picked at it slowly. He smiled at her as he offered the last newt tail.

Severus then took a few silvery angular coins from his pocket and floated them with his wand toward the bar's counter. "Time to go back to Hogwarts, Miss Atkinson" Severus stated as he stood up. The two made their way back to the rear of the tavern and he offered her his arm again. He could see the worry on her face and decided to say something to soothe her, he didn't know why he had the urge to make her feel safe. It was something he would never do for anyone. "I will ensure the ride is less… turbulent"

She placed her hand on his forearm again but was shocked when he turned his body and held her against him with his other arm the moment before they disapparated. The journey was less gut-wrenching, and she felt the warmth of Severus Snape against her. They both appeared at the gates of Hogwarts and Severus let go of her instantly and started striding off toward the school, this time not waiting for Naz or slowing his strides as he rushed back to the dungeons. He felt both horrible and delighted at the same time. He had never held a woman so close in his life and it had unfortunately made his body excited against his will, and this was why he felt devastated. He felt as if he had betrayed his beloved Lily by holding another so close. So, he continued to stride back to the safety of his dungeons, he needed time to think.

Nazaire stood shocked for a moment just as the warmth of his body was ripped away from her and as she opened her eyes to see him darting away back toward the castle at a speed she knew she would never keep up with. She felt bad, why was he retreating so quickly, he obviously did not have an interest in her, so she told herself to push the attraction away before it became something that would hurt her when the inevitable rejection arrived.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 – Research**

She wanted to forget about what happened earlier, to not think any more about Severus, and the best way to distract her mind was to read. She had a craving to find out all the questions that were racking her brain.

Eventually after asking four different paintings where the library was, two of them leading her down to the dungeons before laughing and running off, she finally found the entrance. Naz knew she was close as the air became thick with the smell of old paper and ink. Turning the corner, she was greeted with a wonderful sight. Book cases lined every wall with study nooks in every corner. A huge table in the centre of the room and down every isle benches with high stools stood against every bookcase. She could imagine that when the students arrived back for the year that this area would be full of young minds craving knowledge, or just cramming for exams.

She made her way into the house of knowledge and walked up to the librarian desk. It was empty, she must have been away for the holidays. She promised herself that she would return every book to the same place she found it.

She looked at the different sections of this library, running them through her brain; Apothecary, Broomsticks and Flight, Charms… Charms, that would come in handy she thought. She scanned the section for something simple. Retrieving a thin book with the title "Beginner Charms" she decided that this was where she would start.

A few hours passed, and she had now had read all of the Hogwarts curriculum for charms classes, testing out most spells with great successes. A few spells she noticed could not be cast within the walls of Hogwarts such as apparating and the creation of alcoholic beverages, amongst a few others.

She figured that she would try out a charm to help her understand what she needed to. She cleared her throat and raised her wand. " _Accio_ Warlock Texts" many books floated toward her and landed on the table, flipping to the pages that contained the word Warlock. All of these books had come from the muggle studies section and she recognised them all as fictional novels. But three had come from the section behind the closed gates, she had to make her way over to the gate but upon touching the padlock it instantly unlocked, perhaps because she was recognised as a professor. She noticed that these books were all centuries old. One was dated 1433, another 1645 and the final 1663. It was concerning that these were the only books on the subject.

She started with the oldest book which was particularly extensive. She read the book slowly trying to take in the information and not skip anything important. Until she came across the following lines;

 _Warlocks are non-magical folk who have absorbed one of the mighty runes. Those that become a warlock are given powers greater than a normal wizard. Warlocks can recall some information from the runes past owners. Knowledge of rune symbols and their uses as glyphs are given to those that become a warlock and the ease to cast any spell without practice. These rune stones also have a unique ability that is given to the user. The following page describes all forty-two runes and each of their abilities._

The next page had been ripped out of the book, all that was left was a tattered edge of a page in the centre of the book. She moved on to the second book which was a record of events. The book was titled _The War of the Warlock_. She was shocked to read that a warlock had been crazy enough to absorb all the runes and try to kill everyone who was not on his side. The sword that defeated him sounded like a similar tale to the myth of King Arthur and Excalibur, it must have been the precursor to those muggle tales. The book stated that the runes were not recovered from the body of this evil warlock, traditionally the rune could be retrieved from the corpse of a fallen warlock but not in this event. The runes were assumed to have been destroyed.

The final book was a type legal document that basically stated that due to the War of the Warlock, all witches and wizards were to go into hiding and separate their community from the muggles due to subsequent witch hunts. They had tried to converse with the muggles, but all magic users were burned at the stake.

Some of her questions had been answered but she still did not know why she was in danger, why did Dumbledore insist that she was to stay here? It confused her, why did she have to conceal being a warlock? Why did she have to pass off as a normal witch? And mostly why were there no other sources on modern warlocks? Was she the only one, or had the others also passed themselves off as normal witches and wizards?

The day was now getting late, she decided that the library would be her new favourite place until she knew enough spells, incantations and potions to pass off as a _normal witch_. She returned the open books surrounding her study nook to their original places with one flick of her wand. These spells were becoming very convenient, she really liked this whole witch business. The library was returned to its original state, but she hesitated a moment before she stepped out, she wanted something to read outside of the library. Something interesting and somewhat helpful. She looked in the H section for something history related and came across a title that caught her interest. _Hogwarts a History._ This sounded like something she would probably need to read to understand the castle a little more, so she grasped the book and walked out of the library toward the great hall where it would most likely be dinner time. The light coming through the windows was blue as the moon started to rise. That reminded her of something, wolfsbane, something in her brain told her that wolfsbane was used to stop the effects of lycanthropy. She had no idea how this information entered her brain. It must have something to do with that whole past rune owner thing she thought. But why did Severus need so much of it? Was he a werewolf? He did say that it was not for him, perhaps one of the students was a werewolf. She would have to keep her eyes out, she did not want to be bitten and spend the rest of her life away from the moon.

These thoughts danced over her mind as she walked down the grand staircase, not worrying that they constantly moved as she was walking on them causing her to take the longest route to the bottom. As she continued to walk down to the Great Hall, memories of her day resurged and images of Severus' dark eyes looking into her own with an expression of… want. No. She was just remembering it wrong, seeing things she wanted to see. She pushed the images aside, but the man remained on her mind, she hadn't spent a day with a man for a long time. Back in Australia dating was bland, there were the bogans, the yobbos, the gym guys, the surfer guys and then the ones who were overly affectionate. None caught her fancy, none wanted romance and were only after sex. She had the impression that Severus was not like any of these other men, he was knowledgeable and cunning. But the best word to describe him would be mysterious, he would hide his emotions behind a mask and she wanted to know what these emotions were. He had treated her with respect today, opening doors for her, paying for a meal and then when he held her close. It had shocked her at the time, but now she wanted more. She told herself again that this man would never have the same feelings, she needed to push them away before they manifested into anything more than attraction and thinking about him like this was not going to help.

She finally reached the Great hall and as she entered she saw the four familiar faces again, but the chair filled with Severus at breakfast was now empty. He had not shown up for this meal.

The group of professors waved at Nazaire with smiles on their faces and as she approached Hagrid pulled out a chair for her and offered for her to sit with him. The group had been conversing about recent events, the escape of Sirius Black. Dumbledore had been discussing the dementors that will be patrolling the school.

"Ahhh Professor Atkinson, I was just discussing the new school security." He then turned to address the three other teachers present. "All of you will need to know how to produce a Patronus charm" Naz thought for a moment, she had not read about this charm yet, perhaps it was not a utility charm and would be in the defence against the dark arts curriculum. "This will be for the protection of the students, if any of these creatures steps out of line you will be able to fend them off"

The group continued their conversations about students, classes and of course the events of the previous two years which had both almost ended in the school being shut down. Harry Potter and his two friends were mentioned multiple times in this conversation and Naz assumed that these three liked to meddle in things, they were too curious. A bit like herself.

Her mind slipped back to the mysterious man, why had he left so suddenly after they returned from Diagon Alley? Was he scared that he had crossed a line with her?

As everyone else at the table was still in deep discussion Naz sat there with her mind on Severus, she was mulling over the whole day and the way he was cold and indifferent with everyone he spoke to, except for that moment before they apparated back, he had soothed her with a caring voice. That was a side of him that not many people saw. Then how come he was avoiding her now. "What's up Snape's ass?" She blurted out interrupting the conversation. The thought had slipped from her head and out of her mouth. The other professors sighed as if they knew what had happened.

"Did you have an argument with him, dear?" Minerva's motherly instincts kicked in as she tried to understand what the man had done.

"No, he was just in a fowl mood all day." Naz stated blankly.

"Tha's strange, 'e looked like 'e was havin' a good mornin'. Looked exci'ed to meet you" Hagrid's broken English splashed into the conversation. He was much gruffer than Naz was expecting. The words soothed her a little but confirmed her suspicions that the dark man had a very cold exterior and was hard to read.

Filius thrust his fork into a chicken drumstick and started hacking at it before he spoke. "Don't mind him, the man just works himself to the bone, that is his personality. I think he is just sour that he has not yet been posted as defence against the dark arts professor."

Dumbledore did not say a word he just looked off into the enchanted ceiling, deep in thought. Conversation returned to students, study and classes. Naz was to take third years and up for ancient runes.

Not long after she finished her meal, she returned to her quarters. She decided she was going to sit and read the whole _Hogwarts a History_ tonight. So, she snuggled up by the raging fire, that she had started herself with _incendio,_ wrapped up in a multitude of blankets and pillows as she set off to read for the night.

 **Meanwhile in the Hogwarts Dungeon**

Severus was still awake, having relieved himself earlier and then subsequently punished himself for his betrayal, he now could not sleep. The self-inflicted _crucio_ curse had left his muscles twitching and his skin burning. Why did he have to hate himself so much? He would not let himself enjoy the pleasures in life, he would not allow himself to seek any woman after what he had caused. He was the reason Lily had died, it was because he could not protect her. Pleading with Dumbledore had not saved her life. It was his fault for not taking any further action. It was his fault for not stopping the dark lord himself. And even though the love he had for Lily was never reciprocated he could never let his obsession for her go away.

He had impure thoughts about this new professor earlier and It made him sick to think that his mind and body would betray him for the first beautiful thing that was not afraid of him. Why was she not afraid of him? He was a cruel, ugly old man. He continued to think of himself with disdain. He had no respect for himself after his life of mistakes.

His life had started off horribly. Being born as a half-blood to a witch mother from the noble name of Prince who had unfortunately married a muggle drunk by the unknown name of Snape. His old man had physically abused his mother for years and when he was old enough to try to defend her he would take the brunt of the beatings. His father would call them both _freaks_. A word that struck him deep when he saw Petunia calling Lily the same word.

He only had one good year in his life, spending his late childhood with Lily before they started Hogwarts, where year after year Severus would be shunned by the marauders until finally Potter won Lily from him. She had never spoken to him again and this is where he continued to make more mistakes.

Lucius Malfoy was a manipulating young man and the cunning continues to this day. He convinced Severus that if he became a Death Eater, he would be able to win back Lily's heart. He was wrong, the Dark Lord had made him hurt and kill so many innocent people. The evil man had tainted his body, leaving a dark mark on his arm which reminded him daily of his awful mistakes. After finding out about the plan to murder the Potter family, Snape had returned to Dumbledore to beg him to spare her life. He made the unbreakable vow that day, to be Dumbledore's spy and to do anything for him until the Dark Lord had been conquered. Unfortunately, he had put too much faith in Dumbledore, the man did not fulfil his promise to spare Lily, but Severus remained under the unbreakable oath. Dumbledore had now ordered him to protect Harry Potter to maintain Lily's legacy. And now he had asked Snape to protect a warlock. He knew he would have to do this most recent task or the Dark Lord would become stronger if he found her and took yet another rune for himself. He knew he needed to succeed, for her sake.

But he would not be able to do this if he avoided her, what protection would he be able to provide if he did not know where she was always. He needed to overcome this attraction. He decided he would just be amicable and nothing more.

Standing up from the dark wooden chair of his office, he walked over to a cabinet and pulled on the brass handles. The doors swiftly opened revealing an array of different potions. He grasped a small glass bottle and downed the contents while his hand shook. His twitching muscles relaxed, and the phantom pain subsided. He did not like punishing himself, but it took a long time for Severus to forgive himself and the pain of the cruciatus curse let him remember what he had done wrong. He would not think about this new professor as anything more than a co-worker. He would not be able to forgive himself if he slept with her and betrayed his love for Lily. He closed the cabinet with a thud, a loud click indicated that it had locked.

He then made his way to a door behind his desk, the stairs behind it travelled further underground into his own personal chambers. He liked the darkness of the dungeons. He did not feel like he deserved to live above ground. He never had a high self-worth, he was just the pawn of Dumbledore now that he had sworn his life to the old man. He always felt like the crony of others, having to do the deeds of Dumbledore and the Dark Lord until the latter's demise. Severus had a small amount of fear in his heart about the Dark Wizard, he knew from the events of the past two years that he was not dead at all and that eventually the evil man would soon resurrect himself. Severus would have to return to the fray and re-assert himself into the inner circle of the Death Eaters. A decade had passed since the Dark Lord had been defeated by the boy who lived and the year the boy returned to the magical world was the same year Severus and many other Death Eaters felt their marks burn. The burning sensation had happened a few times over the past two years, steadily becoming more common. He did not know if he would survive the inevitable war.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 – Inflated Egotist**

 **August 6 – 1993**

Alost a month had passed with Nazaire at Hogwarts, she had officially finished reading all the schools curriculum. Ancient Runes had proved to be the easiest, she did not even need to read the meanings of each rune or glyph as if she already knew all the information. The runes would reveal their meaning to her the second she had seen them in her mind. The same rune she had focused on when she first became a warlock again held her attention. It had told her it was a rune of light power, only activated by the purest thoughts. Used to defend oneself from dark energy. She could not seem to make this rune work, no matter how many times she wrote it down on its own or as a glyph circle, she did not understand why. Perhaps she could not think of a purely happy thought. It frustrated the hell out of her.

She had mastered transfiguration, taking pride in the new furniture she had made in her room. It all looked much more muggle like and less ancient. She had also created a few muggle items that made life more convenient although she noticed all electronic items seemed to not work in the castle.

She also enjoyed reading about herbology and magical creatures, she was so surprised that dragons existed and made it a note in her mind to see one as soon as she could. After reading about magical plants and how to process them she had moved onto potions, the theory was easily understood, and she quickly remembered what each potion was for and what ingredients went into them. The only issue was that she had not yet brewed a potion, she had no money to buy a cauldron and upon trying to transfigure something into a cauldron it melted over the flames. She also did not know where to source ingredients, she would have to confront the potions master and ask him to teach her how to brew. She had seen the potions master a few times since she had arrived. Each time she had explored the castle grounds she would notice he would be near, she assumed he was there to make sure she did not try to leave the school grounds. He came to meals occasionally but the two had not spoken more than a few words in the month of her time at the castle.

She also had read all the muggle studies books and laughed multiple times at their genuine lack of knowledge about common items. They thought that a microwave was only for popping popcorn and were amazed at all things electronic. She realised that she should probably pretend that she did not know much about muggles to maintain her _basic witch_ charade.

After laughing at most of the muggle studies books she moved onto defence against the dark arts. After a week of intense studying and not being able to test her skills she had gone for a walk through the castle, amazingly a doorway had appeared down one of the corridors, she looked inside and noticed it was set up like a training room. Perhaps the castle wanted her to practice these skills. She mastered most in the first swish of her wand, but one spell challenged her. She could not seem to make the _patronus_ charm work. She knew she needed to master this spell, Dumbledore had told the staff that all of them would need to know how to cast this incantation. She read more about the spell and assumed that she did not have a happy enough memory. She could not think of something good enough. This frustrated her and after three days of trying she gave up.

She awoke this particular morning still frustrated from the failure of the days prior. She entered the great hall at mid-day with a look of defeat on her face as she made her way up to the head table. As the start of the Hogwarts year drew close the head table had filled with more teachers, yet today was lacking the dark potions master. The librarian, Irma Pince, had returned to the school. The tall woman, who usually wore a stylish black dress and a gawdy head dress, was surprised to find Naz in the library every day for the past week. Argus Filtch, the caretaker, and his cat had also returned to the school along with the matron, Poppy Pomfrey. The strange divination teacher, Sybill Trelawney, had also returned. The woman seemed to be drawn to Naz, occasionally muttering under her voice. Naz had once heard her mutter something about the _rune speaking to her._ She was unsure what the woman knew and hoped that her façade had not been compromised, but after a discussion with Dumbledore about the woman, he had assured her that Sybill was a _trusted staff member_.

Lunch was enjoyable as she conversed with Hagrid about magical creatures, she was surprised to find out that the man had owned a baby dragon briefly and still had a three headed dog. She was also surprised that he had bought a hippogriff to the school for some of his care of magical creature's lessons.

"I'll let ye ride Buckbeak sometime, I'm sure 'e will love ye" the hairy man smiled at Naz and gave her a firm pat on the back.

She accepted the offer gratefully, surprised that she would actually get to see a large magical beast in the near future, but the conversation ended as Dumbledore approached. He looked as if he had something important to discuss and that thought was confirmed as he spoke.

"Miss Atkinson, would you meet me in my office in 10 minutes" The old man asked without looking at her, he was staring out of the back window as if his mind were churning through thought. He walked out of the hall slowly, with his hands clasped together, and headed down toward the dungeons. The request sounded as if she were a child in trouble. Her mind rushed through the possibilities, was she in trouble? She pushed that thought aside, she was not a child. She was not sure what the issue was but finished her drink quickly, said her farewell to Hagrid and moved to make her way to the Headmasters office.

Upon entering the corridor, she wandered up to the gargoyle at the entrance to the Headmasters office. She needed to remember the password, it had been a sweet treat, but she could not remember for the life of her what it was. So, she started to rattle off candy names. "Cockroach Clusters… Chocolate Frog, Lemon Sherbet…" She thought for a moment, and with a questioning tone asked the next name. "Toffee Éclair?" She asked the gargoyle. Its eyes moved to look up at her and then moved aside. She silently celebrated before rushing up the stairs and through his office door into an empty office. She looked around for the old professor, but after looking under the desk one of the previous Headmasters Portraits spoke. "He won't be under there, dear, take a seat and have one of the lemon sherbets" The previous headmaster spoke as if he knew exactly what Dumbledore would want her to do. So, she walked over and sat on the big old lounge.

She wondered again why she had been called to the Headmasters office. Then a thought stuck her mind, the man had been following up with her progress learning spells. She had not mentioned the _patronus_ and avoided it completely after her failures. Perhaps the librarian had told the headmaster that she had read everything on the subject. She needed to tell him.

A moment later the Headmaster, followed by Severus, entered the room. Nazaire stood up and instantly started to gape. She spoke quickly. "I'm so sorry Headmaster. I… I… I can't produce a _patronus_ " Her head hung low.

"Miss Atkinson, that is not the reason I have called upon you both" he motioned to the other man in the room. "But I had my suspicions of this issue and it is not a worry, I assure you" He said as he closed the gap between them and rest his hand on her arm. She looked back up at the old man with a re-assured look. "What I have brought you both here for is an important job. Please sit" he motioned both of the others toward the seating area by the fire. "I received a letter during my lunch from the ministry which said that Mr Potter had cast underage magic and has been expelled from the school. I had a house elf search his house for him, but his family said that the boy had run away. With Sirius Black on the loose and most likely after revenge against the boy. I fear for his safety, I want you two to find the boy and make sure he safe. Ensure he arrives at the _Leaky Cauldron_ , I have already arranged his stay and had Hermione and Ron sent there to greet him. I can already sense that he will have a tough case with the Wizengamot and I will be there myself to ensure it is a fair trial" The old man looked angry at the way Harry had been persecuted but was also concerned for his safety.

Severus was the next to speak. "It will be done" He said with a small bow of his head. "But may I ask, why have her help?" He asked in an impassive tone.

"Severus, you may hate the man and want to verse him yourself, but you do not know how dangerous he is. You will need someone to watch your back" The older man retorted wisely.

Severus looked between the two before responding. "Indeed" He responded. "Well, time to go find Potter" He spoke to Nazaire and spat the boys name like it tasted bad.

"Take the floo to Arabella Figg's house in Little Winging, it will be faster than apparating from the front gates." Dumbledore pushed Nazaire into the fireplace and the two quickly left for Wisteria Walk.

Severus just walked through the house and out of the front door as Naz apologised profusely to Mr's Figg and followed the mysterious man out of the house. The two walked across the street and through a quaint little park that joined onto Privet Drive.

Suddenly Severus pushed Naz into a bush and placed his finger over her mouth to stay quiet. The man was very close to her and the instant connection of his finger to her lips made her bush. Luckily the afternoon sun was casting red shade over the two and he had not noticed, he was more concerned with someone or something down the road ahead of them. The two looked up from behind the shrubs at what Naz could see as a wild looking black dog. It sniffed at the ground in front of number four Privet Drive and then started to walk down the street, following a trail of scent with its nose.

The two slowly followed as the dog passed on out of view behind a house. Severus swiftly pulled out his wand and enchanted Nazaire's shoes to not make a noise as she stepped. His had always been enchanted, this was how he would sneak up on students. She also pulled out her wand and both continued to catch up with the dog. Rounding the corner of the building he had slipped past, they saw the dog's tail before it moved again around the side of a house. The two followed on pursuit silently through a few neighbourhoods until finally the saw what made Nazaire's eyes bulge. The dog was on the opposite side of a road to a boy sitting next to a large suitcase with the name H. Potter on its side. The dog was growling at the boy and he had his wand out, ready to defend himself. At this moment Naz realised that the dog must have been Sirius Black in his _animagus_ form. She had read about this ability in the library. She was about to strike the dog with a spell before Severus placed his hand on her wand and pointed it down. He lifted his own wand, Naz had expected him to strike with his own spell but before she could prepare herself for battle, his wand lit up with a green light. Instantly a bright light started to rush down the street at speed and stopped suddenly in front of the boy. It was a purple bus. The dog retreated into the scrub behind him as the boy stepped onto the bus.

The vehicle sped off with a wisp of air, and again before Naz could process what had happened, Severus started to run off to the spot that the dog had been. He lifted his wand in an offensive position and ran into the bushes across the road. Nazaire ran to follow the dark man and heard some snaps and pops coming from beyond the trees.

She burst through the leaves and found a red light coming toward her quickly, she snapped her wand toward it and deflected the spell into the ground. Another came at her and she flicked it away. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness she saw Severus and a scruff looking man battling in front of her.

The man was wild looking, he had long curly hair and a scruffy beard that framed his gaunt face and bright eyes. This was the infamous Sirius Black. The three continued to cast spells at one another, Severus, violently casting continuously until the other man spoke.

"What are you doing here, Snivellus?" The rough man asked with a wicked smile before he snapped to look at Nazaire with a wild grin. "And who is this attractive witch?" He asked as if he were trying to flirt while spells continued to be thrown between the two wizards. Severus paused for a moment and defended a few spells while he looked over toward Naz before his head snapped back to the perpetrator.

"That is none of your business" he said slowly and coldly through a few ragged breaths. He started to flick his wand faster and advanced on the wild man. Nazaire also started to pace closer to the dog who had tried to come onto her. She started to thrust her own wand at him and he backed up at the onslaught of spells, defending them all.

"Oh, I see how it is" His eyes widened, and spells continued to fly between them all. "You want her for yourself, can't you learn to share, Snivellus?" The rugged man said between spells. Before sending a green sparks from his wand that struck Severus in the shoulder. The taller man landed to the ground, clutching his shoulder. "Just like Lily, the marauders will have her" He winked at Nazaire before dropping to the ground while transforming into a black dog. He started to run off and in a split moment Naz sent an incantation toward the dog, it hit him in the rump. The dog winced and ran faster away. Naz hesitated for a moment, unsure if she should help Severus or go after the dog, for all she knew a green incantation was the killing curse. She started after the dog, but it had already disappeared, out of sight. So, she returned to the taller man and dropped to his side.

"Severus!" she yelled. "Please don't be dead" she pleaded next to him and placed a hand softly on his cheek and looked into his closed eyes. They flicked open and squinted with anger.

"Get off me" The man pushed her off him and attempted to sit up before wincing and laying back down. "Why did you let that heathen get away?" he asked coldly as he grasped at his shoulder and groaned at the pain.

"Here, let me help you" she said, placing her hands on his robes but stopped to look in his eyes for permission. He nodded slowly, and she removed his cloak, unbuttoned the top of his shirt and pulled his collar aside to reveal bare skin. His skin was just as pale as his face but was contrasted by a large red burning hole between his collar bone and his shoulder joint. She hovered her wand over his wound and chanted as if pleading. " _Vulnera Sanentur,_ _Vulnera Sanentur"_ She repeated it over and over until the wound was barely visible. She could see Severus relaxing as the gash closed and the pain faded.

He was so confused why someone was healing him, he had been used to picking himself up after conflicts. But her touch was so gentle, as if she did not want him to be in pain. Why would anyone not want Severus Snape, the greasy dungeon master to be in pain. He opened his eyes again to find her teal irises looking deeply into his as she ran her fingers across his now soft and unbroken skin. She was leaning in closer, was she about to kiss him? His body flexed, and he pushed her off of himself before buttoning up his shirt quickly and replacing his cloak.

The tall man stood stiffly and avoided looking at the now somewhat upset woman. She wiped a tear from her eye which she hoped he had not noticed and stood with a now indifferent face to hide her disappointment. She was an idiot to think he would want her to kiss him.

He offered his arm and she looked at it before speaking. "I can _apparate_ myself" she spoke, he took away his arm and disappeared as black smoke into the night.

She apparated to the gates of Hogwarts but was surprised to find the potions master was nowhere in sight. She walked through the tall wrought iron gates and across the grounds. Making her way back to the headmaster's office. As she arrived in his office she noticed the only person in the room was Dumbledore, she had been expecting to see the dark man but instead was greeted by the old professor. "Ahh, you have returned in good health." He said with a smile, her face remained indifferent as she was still cross with her actions and Severus' reaction from earlier. "I have heard that the boy made it safely to _the Leaky Cauldron_." The man continued before Naz interrupted.

"Oh, has Severus already been and left?" She questioned.

"No, dear, I thought he would be returning with you." The old man looked concerned for a moment and then continued. "Did something happen to him?" she considered the question for a moment, trying to plan how to say they had failed before a worry arose in her mind.

"We… encountered Sirius Black. He was following the boy and we… apprehended him." She stopped to look into the man's blue eyes as worry washed across her face. "The man fled, and Severus was hurt but after I healed him, he left." She was now almost in tears as she whispered the rest. "I think he may have gone after Black"

Dumbledore wrapped his arms around the weeping woman and then spoke just above a whisper with uncertainty. "Severus will be fine, he is a powerful and cunning wizard. Please come sit. A toffee will make you feel better" He lead her to the lounge and offered a sweet from his pocket.

Severus paced back and forth in front of the empty fireplace, slowly wearing away a spot in the carpet. He had not perused the dog but instead flew back to his family's house in Spinners End. It was the only place he could think of to be away from people, to think. He stopped pacing and landed heavily into an armchair with his hands in his hair and his elbows on his knees. He had been stupid to allow the woman to heal him. Her soft caress on his cheek and the brush of her fingers over his flesh. His hand made its way into his collar and brushed the spot where the wound once was. He was surprised at how unscathed the spot was but expected no less from a warlock, especially one as bright as her.

That was something he liked about the woman, that she was as well educated and as dedicated to learning as he. He wondered what her career in the muggle world of Australia was and if she had needed an extensive education to achieve it, he expected no less. He could not get this woman out of his mind and it ached to think of the betrayal to Lily he was so close to committing. The woman's teal eyes had drawn him in so many times he could not ignore it, he did not know what to do.

To be around Nazaire he could not resist the pull of his heart, the attraction to her was becoming stronger every day he saw her. She had not noticed but Severus was almost always following her, watching her read in the library or explore the nooks of the castle. He loved that she would have conversations with the paintings and ask to hear their ridiculous stories of grandeur. She had something about her that was refreshing and different, and it was not just her foreign accent.

To not be around the woman was even more pain, he would sit in his study reading books he had already gone through ten times before or brew yet another potion for his endless stores. The want to see her face in the morning somehow brightened his days but it all made him feel horrible when he remembered his infidelity to the love he had promised Lily. Always.

He needed to punish himself. It was his fault that he had let the woman touch him and heal him. It was his fault that she had leaned in to kiss him. To kiss him, it was something that still shocked him. He loathed himself so much that he did not see why anyone would want to press their perfect lips against his tainted ones.

The man pulled out his wand and with a swift flick toward himself, he felt the pain ache through his every nerve. He kept the cries of agony within, he did not even deserve that release. The aching coursed to his bone, it was the most pain anyone could experience and his bones mock shattered. His blood boiled, and his head throbbed. Yet he continued the onslaught on his own body. The pain made him remember his place in this world, he was destined to be alone forever with the unreciprocated love of a dead woman who shared her heart with his nemesis.

After hours of self-punishment with the _cruciatus_ curse and a few other hexes that left him bruised and bloodied he finally lay unconscious in the faded armchair. He would remain here until the next day when Dumbledore had noticed him missing from both breakfast and lunch, only to floo here and find him in this state on the lounger. No questions were asked by the old headmaster, he only woke the man up and returned him to his own quarters in the dungeons. The man knew Severus well, too well. He knew the potions master would prefer to heal himself, having refused all aid from Madame Pomfrey in his younger years and only accepting when he could not stand on his own two legs.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 – Schools Back from Summer, Schools Back Forever.**

 **September 1 – 1993**

The day flew by quickly, a few students trickled into the school before the Hogwarts express had arrived. Those that did travelled by floo or were apparated to the front gates by their parents. The first years did not have this luxury and were to sit on the train for hours on its way from London to the Scottish countryside. Dumbledore said it was for the _experience_.

In this time before students arrived, Nazaire was approached by Hagrid while she was taking a stroll of the school grounds. The meaty man scurried up the hill calling her name. When he finally reached her, he spoke. "Naz, would ye mind coming down to my hut? I have a surprise for you." She looked at him quizzically but nodded slowly as to accept the offer.

The two walked down the grassy hill, summer was coming to a close and already the Whomping Willow's leaves were starting to brown. The two passed the great tree and continued on their way to the groundkeeper's hut. He hurried along as if excited by the surprise he had in store for her.

Hagrid had really enjoyed the company of the youngest staff member, and he also appreciated her patience with him. She did not talk much in conversation but had a wonderful energy surrounding her. She would smile and be amazed at his stories of magical creatures. He wondered why she was so enthusiastic, it was as if she had never heard of these creatures before. He pondered it in is mind if it was that Australia did not have these creatures or perhaps she was a muggle born witch.

The two continued to walk down to his hut. When the shack came into view, Nazaire could see Hagrid's consistently gargantuan pumpkins that would tower over her if she were to stand next to them and just over the top of one she could see the head of a huge bird. Its head perked as It saw the massive man coming closer and galloped around from behind the pumpkins. Nazaire was so shocked to see the fully-fledged hippogriff. She had seen sketches and artwork of them from both muggle story books and also the magical creatures section of the Hogwarts library but never expected to see the regal beast in the flesh.

As they approached at Hagrid's rushed pace, Nazaire tugged on his sleeve before he stopped to turn to her. "Shouldn't I approach with respect" Her teal eyes met brown with a look of caution. "And wait for him to accept my presence?" The keeper of keys smiled as he responded.

"You 'ave been readin' 'avn't you?" She nodded in response and the man continued. "Well, give it a go?" he gave her a hefty pad on the back which made her almost topple toward the creature.

She obliged and slowly approached, fear started to raise in her chest. This was the first magical creature she had ever seen and was not sure if the beast was dangerous. She bowed and almost without a second thought the creature bowed back at her, so, she continued to cautiously walk closer. Her hand outstretched and met its beak. The texture of its bill was almost like a bull horn, smooth and solid. She could see just how sharp it was from this close. She looked into its big black eyes and continued to move her hand up its head as she caressed his feathers. Her hand moved slowly behind its pointed ear and scratched. Buckbeak seemed to move into the touch with enjoyment, much like a cat. She continued to move down its neck and felt the strength of his muscles beneath its fur-like feathers. Her inspection of the hippogriff ended when Hagrid placed his huge hand on the small of her back and she turned to face him. Her face lit up. "Did you really mean it when you said I could ride him?" She asked almost begging.

The large man smiled back at her and gripped her waist, he thrust her up onto the creatures back with ease as if she weighed nothing to him. She noticed that Buckbeak was a very similar shape to a horse, which she had once ridden on a beach with a coupon won at her muggle work Christmas event. Her mind slipped back to her job, and past life. Was she now considered a missing person? She did not care, she had no family back in Australia, no friends and only acquaintances. All she had was a boring job at a desk as a secretary, her arts degree had produced no job prospects, which she had expected and was forced to work in her company from the bottom job. She had never felt so alive in her life, the magic and wonder that this world provided was more than she had ever hoped. She had always read books about magical worlds and had grown up reading all of Tolkien's masterpieces and had wished on multiple occasions to have been born in that world. But now she was amongst magic and it had never felt so good.

Hagrid removed the chain from Buckbeak's neck as Naz nudged the beast with her heels. He started to canter down the hill and as the two approached the waters edge the creature started to bolt, spreading its wings and taking flight as the water passed under the two. The wind rushed through her hair and the creature flapped its huge wings to gain altitude. The two flew around the castle and she could finally see what had surrounded her for the past two months, nothing. It was all countryside, forests and lakes. There was a small village not far from the castle which she assumed was where she had first arrived, _Hogsmeade_ , she remembered reading in _Hogwarts a History_. She had always been deathly afraid of heights, but strangely enough this flight was not triggering that paranoia. Having another living being with her made her feel safe and being able to put her trust in the creature helped.

Back at the castle, Severus had been watching her journey with Hagrid down to the hut. He was surprised when the creature so willingly accepted her, as hippogriffs were notoriously proud beasts, only accepting those with the purest of heart. This reminded him of the slowly growing attraction he had toward this woman. He knew the two of them would never be anything more than co-workers. The thoughts rushed around his mind as he watched the large man lift her onto the creatures back. He had concluded that if she had a pure heart then the two of them were incompatible, just as the pure Lily had been. Severus believed his own heart to be tainted, he had betrayed the wizarding world and he had the mark to prove it.

He was snapped out of his thoughts as he saw the beast run toward the lake. His heart rushed in in chest and took a step forward out of instinct as if to save her. Then it spread its wings and took flight. He was relived to see her instant mastery of this creature, he assumed she must have ridden a horse before in her muggle life. Anger arose within him, and his neck turned a deep red. How could Hagrid have put her in such danger, did he not know the importance to keep this woman alive. If she would die, the rune within her would be lost again into the world and worse, this woman was the key to halting Voldemort from creating more horcruxes in his inevitable return.

He continued to watch the woman fly about the castle and over the forbidden forest, he kept his eyes affixed on her being ready to cast a soft fall incantation if she were to plummet. The beast eventually started to descend and landed softly on the ground near where it had taken flight. Severus's heart finally stopped beating with force and calmed. The two returned to Hagrid unscathed and he lifted her gracefully off of the creature's back. He threw a meaty treat toward Buckbeak and it almost swallowed the ferret whole. Then the two professors moved out of sight and into the hut. Severus watched them as they closed the door. He felt his heart twinge again, this time not out of fear or anger but jealousy. An emotion that came to him as a shock, he had only felt it before when Lily was fawning over Potter. He growled and turned back toward the castle, heading toward his dungeons. He needed to reprove himself of these feelings through the only way he knew how, pain. He had again betrayed his everlasting love for Lily by feeling jealousy for this blasted warlock.

After a huge pot of tea, well small for Hagrid, and a conversation about smaller magical creatures, that was spurred by Naz's want for a familiar, the two professors lead the carriages down to the back gate of Hogwarts. Hagrid had told Nazaire that the carriages were pulled by Thestrals, but Naz could not see them at all. She did however touch one, it was quite bony and felt as if it had skin instead of the fur she was expecting.

Once they had lined all the carriages up inside the gate Hagrid said his farewell, he was to take the first years by boat into the castle. She however was posted by the carriages along with Argus Filtch, who was in her opinion, was worse conversation and grumpier than the dungeon dweller himself, Severus, an opinion that many would disagree with.

She stood there for a while, awkwardly passing glances at the older man who had his cat in his arms and was whispering to it. She did not like the man very much, he had talked a few times about child punishments in the staff meeting the day prior, actually, that was all the man talked about. Her thoughts were interrupted by the high-pitched whistle of an old steam train and quickly she heard the chugging of its engine as it came closer.

Students started to pile into the carriages, they all chatted with each other, laughed and smiled. More than half had quietly whispered to each other and pointed at Naz, eventually she overheard one of the students discussing if she was the new defence against the dark arts teacher. They laughed after one had loudly joked. "Snape will be rightfully pissed if that hot babe took his darling defence against the dark arts". The boy who had spoken sat next to another, the two looked identical and shared the same coloured hair as the man she had first met in the ministry of magic. The two boys laughed loudly and then both started to blow kisses and wink toward Nazaire. She blushed slightly but crossed her arms and gave the two a death stare which shocked one of them so much he almost fell out the back of the carriage. That same carriage had another boy and a younger girl with the same ginger hair, a girl with busy brown hair and the same boy she had seen a month ago, Harry Potter. She had heard the stories about this boy and wondered if him and his friends would cause trouble again this year.

The final stragglers took the last carriage, there was a platinum blonde boy, along with his two chubby cronies and finally a dark-skinned boy who looked the same age. All four of the boys were dressed in the black uniform embellished with green, she knew as Severus' house, Slytherin. Filtch had left on the previous carriage, much to the students' discontent. Before the final carriage left Nazaire closed the schools wards with a wave of her wand. As the gate closed she climbed up into the front of the carriage and joined the group of boys.

The group talked amongst themselves in hushed whispers, occasionally looking at her before muttering to each other again. The dark-skinned boy was the first to speak up. "Hey Miss, who are you?" he asked for the group, which were all now looking at her.

"I am Nazaire Atkinson, the new Ancient Runes teacher" She responded with a smile.

"Oh… I heard from my father about you" The blonde boy responded, looking uninterested. He continued like a puffed-up egotist. "Besides, I heard that subject is the worst. Its all theory-based garbage about some old symbols people used to draw instead of doing _real_ magic."

This caused Nazaire to glare at the boy and respond with her own retort. "For your information, young man, I can teach this subject how I please. And luckily, I know exactly how to create glyphs of all types, an ancient and powerful magic." She paused and then mimicked his voice. "Besides, I'm going to be making this subject very _practical_ " her voice was cold and sliced almost as deep as Severus' did. Malfoy looked cut. He turned away defeated and then talked to his two cronies. The dark-skinned boy was the only one interested to continue speaking to her.

The boy moved up the bench opposite and introduced himself. "Professor Atkinson, my name is Blaise Zambini." He started with a smile and an out-stretched hand. She shook it before he continued. "Will your class be like charms?"

She smiled at his interest and spoke with volition. "This class will be better than charms, lets just call it _defence against the dark arts, ancient style_ " She expressed the last part with her hands up as quotation marks. Blaise looked like he was completely interested in this subject after her expression.

"I'm so taking your class!" he exclaimed.

As the students filed into the hall, Nazaire took her seat one from the end of the head table, next to Severus. The silent man looked out into the sea of students, glaring at a few and giving a sly smile at his Slytherin table. The hall was bright and cheerful. The candles hanging in mid-air shone livelier than physically possible, they lit every corner of the room and caused all shadows to be sent away. The students continued to flood in and take their seats. The room filled with chatter and laughter, even the teachers talked amongst themselves except for Severus and Nazaire.

The doors flung open to reveal an army of short children no older than twelve, headed by a stern looking woman, McGonagall. The children followed her as she walked up the centre aisle with an old hat in one hand and a stool in the other.

The first years were sorted into their houses before long and every Slytherin gained another smirk from the dark man sitting next to her. She liked that little smile that played off his lips, it was something that she wished she could see more often. She wanted to make him smile herself, perhaps one day she would be the one to make him smile again.

The headmaster stood and the whole room quieted in an instant. His presence held so much power and he was well respected by all. He slowly walked from the centre table to the owl carved podium. The etching spread its wings as the old wizard stepped toward it. He raised his hands to the crowd before he began his speech. "Welcome! Welcome to another year at Hogwarts." Every student and staff member had focus on the Headmaster. "Now, I'd like to say a few words before we all become too befuddled by our excellent feast. First, I'm pleased to welcome Professor R.J. Lupin" As the man spoke he motioned toward a tall thin man, who had short brown hair and sunken in eyes. He looked as though he had a rough sleep for the past few nights. "who's kindly consented to fill the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Good luck, professor. Our Care of Magical Creatures teacher has decided to retire in order to spend more time with his remaining limbs." This caused Naz and many of the students to chuckle at the unfortunate joke. "Fortunately, I'm delighted to announce that his place will be taken by none other than our own Rubeus Hagrid." The large man stood at the mention of his name and bumped the table with his beer belly, knocking over a few goblets of wine. He waved and smiled toward Harry potter and his friends. "I would also be honoured to introduce our new Ancient Runes professor, Nazaire Atkinson. Who is one of the finest runeologists of our time, considering her young age." Naz stood and smiled at the students. Some were disinterested but most of them smiled back. She returned to her seat and the old wizard continued with his speech. "Finally, on a more disquieting note at the request of the Ministry of Magic. Hogwarts will, until further notice, play host to the dementors of Azkaban until such a time as Sirius Black is captured. The dementors will be stationed at every entrance to the grounds. Now whilst I've been assured that their presence will not disrupt our day-to-day activities a word of caution. Dementors are vicious creatures. They'll not distinguish between the one they hunt and the one who gets in their way. Therefore, I must warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. It is not in the nature of a dementor to be forgiving. But you know, happiness can be found even in the darkest of times. If one only remembers to turn on the light." He dramatically waved his hand and in an instant the candles that filled the room were snuffed out before he continued to wave his hand back and they all re-ignited.

The feast arrived as the wizard raised his hands and appeared on the tables in a flourish. The students started to chatter again as they ate and likewise did the professors. Severus and Nazaire were the only ones who were not in conversation. Naz thought she should try to break the air between the two. She had of course been the one to create the tension by attempting to kiss him. She assumed she had crossed a line, he probably had a wife or was just not interested in her. "Severus" she spoke under her breath in almost a whisper. For a moment she wished he had not heard him but instead she received a hum from the man next to her. So, she decided to continue with her attempt. "do you think Sirius Black will try to get into the castle"

The man grumbled before he responded. "It would be impossible for him to enter" he paused for a moment bore he continued. "But the repugnant man will indeed try to" his voice retained its cold tone and the man did not look at her as he spoke. She could tell he did not want to speak to her, but she tried to continue. She wanted to hear his voice more, the deepness of it seemed to sooth her.

"And if he did find a way in?" She continued before he instantly answered.

"If the dementors don't kill him" He paused again for dramatic effect. "I will myself" His head turned to meet her gaze. His eyes were cold and full of vengeful anger. She wondered if Sirius and Severus had a problematic past. She wanted to know more but felt it unwise to ask this man herself as the anger brimmed in his eyes.

"Can you teach me how to brew a potion?" The question left her lips as if not created by her own mind. She was shocked at what she had said. Obviously, he would not accept with this anger almost seeping from his body. So, she tried to salvage the situation. "Of course, If you don't want to… that is fine" she lowered her head and spoke next in a hushed tone. "But I have read every book on the matter in the library" she had given up on the task.

He was stunned with the question. No one had asked him before to teach them potions… on their own free will. In that moment the anger had left his eyes and been replaced by amusement. This woman had just flattered him, so much so that the words instantly left his mouth in a reassuring tone. "Of course," His hand rested on top of hers softly. "I will teach you"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 – The Ancient Runic Symbols**

 **September 2 – 1993**

Students and teachers were up early to start classes for the day. Naz had been worried for the past two months that her new curriculum would be too far out of the norm. She had completely disregarded the previous teacher's methods and had decided that a more practical approach would help students stay engaged and hopefully learn more. It seemed that the magical world had abandoned the old runic arts and would teach it more like a history subject. Perhaps this is because most of the glyphs had been lost to time.

Her first class would be a group of third years from Gryffindor and Slytherin. She skimmed over the list of six names, such a small class. There was of course Hermione Granger, who she was surprised to find out was taking every subject this year. There was the boy she had talked with on the carriage into Hogwarts, Blaise Zambini. She was also surprised to see the remaining students were all Slytherins, most likely persuaded by Blaise to take this subject. Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson, Tracey Davis and Millicent Bulstrode. She was concerned as to why so little students wanted to take her subject, it was probably because the previous teacher was an old bore who just focused on the theory. She hoped that the next year of students would be a bigger group, although she was semi-grateful that she did not have to stand up in front of a full class. She was not the most outspoken person and was actually quite shy.

She continued to ruffle through papers and supplies on her desk to make sure she had not missed anything. Wand, Check. Workbooks, Check. Salt, Check. Chalk, Check. Charcoal, Check. She had made sure she brought enough supplies for a large group.

That morning before class she had skipped breakfast in the great hall and instead headed straight to the classroom. Until today the room was locked solid, the previous teacher had put a charm on the door to lock anyone but himself out. She wanted to make the room a more engaging environment. Previously the area had looked like an exam room with separate desks and a single chalkboard. Her first mission was to replace all the exam style desks. So, she lifted her wand and flurried it, the wooden desks started to morph and combine into a tier of long semi-circular benches that centred into an area of the floor, similar to a roman stage. Each of the benches now had soft red and purple pillows along them with golden accents and tassels. Next, she strung up some billowing purple curtains over the two huge arched windows and replaced the light with an array of floating glyphs. The glyphs looked like a flat disc of red energy, with visible runes around them and in the centre of each was a glowing red ball of light. She hoped that this would gain the students interest if they could see the power of ancient runes right in front of them. She moved the chalk board closer to the semi-circle of benches and had written _Professor Naz Atkinson_ on the top corner, underlining Naz. She wanted to be on a first name basis with _her_ students. Hating the whole Miss this and Professor that. She left the teachers desk as it was, she liked its old dark wood.

Finally, students started to enter the room and obviously, Hermione Granger, was the first to arrive. The Gryffindor student looked stunned when she entered the room as she eyed the floating light sources before taking a seat in the centre of the benches. Next the Slytherin crew burst through the door, the five had walked to class together and continued their conversation as they wandered in and all took the bench one tier up, behind Hermione.

Nazaire stood in the centre of the semi-circle beside the board. The students continued to chatter amongst themselves and not pay attention. The only one observing her was Hermione. She waited a few more moments with no avail, so, she decided to get their attention by force.

She pressed her hands together and as she drew them apart a green glyph hovered between her hands, it unravelled, and she grasped the end. A whip had appeared in her hand and she snapped it on the old wooden floor leaving a scorching mark in the hard wood. This instantly gained her the attention of the five Slytherin students. "Good morning, I am your teacher, Professor Nazaire Atkinson" She started in a cold Snape-like voice but then continued with a laugh. "But you can all call me Naz" the enchanted chalk near the chalkboard underlined the Naz again.

She continued. "I have decided to teach this class in a much more practical way than the previous teacher, this will mean I am going to teach you how to cast glyphs by using the forty-two ancient runes." The chalk started to write rune symbols on the board, they looked like an ancient alphabet. "I do not expect you to know everything by the end of this class, but I want to at least have taught you to cast a simple glyph. The defending bubble glyph." She looked around the room and all of the student's eyes lit up at the mention of a practical lesson. "This can be cast onto an item to be worn, or onto a person and if large enough can be cast around a whole house. This glyph creates a defence that can withstand a single blow by weapon or magic before it disappears. You may think this useless, but it only takes one spell to kill a person." The students looked so excited to start.

Naz continued. "I know you all want to start right away but we have a small amount of theory to get through first. How does one cast a glyph?" Nazaire looked around the group of students to find the only hand thrust into the air was from Hermione. "Yes, Hermione?"

"One can cast a glyph by drawing the runes on an object with a magically embodied material such as natural chalk, vampire salt or the charcoal made from magical wood." The textbook responses from Hermione had been discussed to Naz by Severus and she agreed the quote was directly out of _The History of Ancient Runes_ from the school library.

"That is correct Hermione" The girl looked as if she was expecting something. Naz was not going to give her points for a direct quote. "But there are more ways to cast a glyph, such as" She waved her wand in mid air producing a large blue floating glyph. "using your wand to write it in mid-air. And the final method is through scorch marks. This is a dark magic and was used by ancient witches to curse others. They are delivered in the form of a letter which will burn the scorch marks into the recipient's hand when the letter is touched, cursing them with whatever glyph has been written." She looked around the room with a grim expression. "But the scorch marks method is not always bad, some wizards would scorch a tattooed glyph into their body for protection or enhanced power." Her voice was steady as she taught them.

After the theory had been completed, which consisted of the group learning the defence rune and how to scribe it and then how to incorporate it into the circular glyph, they started to cast it. Firstly, on paper with the charcoal from a fire birch which proved to be mostly a success aside from one of the students who had cast the bubble around his own hand which needed to be popped by a swift _expelliarmus_.

Finally, the group moved onto casting the bubble around each other. Blaise had amazingly managed to create a glyph slightly stronger that took two hits to pop. The whole class had a fun time casting the bubble and then popping it with jinxes. This continued for a while until Nazaire regained the classes attention. "Students, thank you for your time, but it seems to be out of our hands. You will have to head off to your next class but before our next lesson I want a paragraph summary of the defence bubble glyph and its uses as well as a glyph on the report page surrounding it in the defence bubble, to demonstrate your successful learning. You are dismissed." The students exited the room with smiles expressing their enjoyment of this subject with each other.

Lunch time in the great hall proceeded Naz's free period after the third-year class. She entered the great hall through a back entrance she had found which spat her out at the head table. She hated walking the length of the hall. She felt especially uncomfortable when passing the Gryffindor table as there were two twin boys constantly staring at her in the hall the night before. She had encountered them in her free period when she heard a loud bang come from one of the adjacent corridors. The boys had set off a paint bomb and covered one poor Hufflepuff first year. She scolded the boys. "You two are in big trouble" She had yelled at them.

But the boys seemed to like being scolded or were at least trying to make a joke when they responded. "We hope so" they replied in unison. The one on the left continued for them. "Are you going to _punish_ us?" Both of the boys started laughing and Naz gave them a look of disbelief. So, she decided to try her best to avoid the two. She did not want to have to deal with any more sexual innuendoes from them both.

Naz walked toward the head table and again sat in the vacant seat next to Severus Snape. He was the first to speak. "Why were you not here this morning" He asked with a concerned furrow of his brow. He had worried for a moment during breakfast that this woman was now avoiding him. He thought that he may have gone too far the night before by placing his hand on hers. During the first two periods of the morning he had convinced himself that no woman would ever want to be with him and he was a fool to have agreed to teach her how to brew. But her response pacified his aggravated thoughts.

"I'm sorry Severus, I had to refurbish my classroom before the students arrived. The room would not let me in until this morning, it must have had a locking enchantment." After her response she could see the worry in his eyes subside and his face softened to her.

But in an instant his face hardened again as if he had not meant to let his guard down and he spoke in his usual cold tone. "You mustn't skip meals, Miss Atkinson" Severus did not mean to let his guard down, but this woman made him feel like Lily had when he met her. She drew his interest with her creativity and intelligence. He was relieved that she was not avoiding him, so did this mean he had not crossed a line with the physical contact.

He wanted to know badly if she had a partner back in her muggle world. He assumed she wasn't married because she did not wear a ring, nor had a ring indent on her finger but that did not mean she was single. He was not going to risk asking her in public like this, so, it would have to be in private. He did however want to ask less _delicate_ questions. "I heard from my third-year potions class that your subject had been _highly engaging_ " He changed the way Blaise had worded his excitement about Ancient Runes class. The boy had originally described the experience as ' _fucking sick as bro'._

"Yeah, the group of them seemed to enjoy it. I've changed the teaching methods to be much more practical." She told him with caution as if he would disagree with her decision. But instead he agreed.

"Yes, I remember the old fool's subject. I took it instead of Divination for four years." He paused for a moment. "It was dull" She signed in relief before he asked her another question in a hushed tone. "What did you do… _before_ this position?" He asked knowing she would understand that he meant in her muggle life.

She paused for a moment, as if questioning weather he knew about her situation. She wondered if Dumbledore had told him, the older man seemed to trust the younger to deal with the Sirius Black situation, perhaps he confided everything in the younger man. "Did Dumbledore tell you?" She answered just above a whisper with concern haunting her expressions.

He only nodded in response and she relaxed a moment later and answered his question. "Secretary" She answered shortly before continuing. "In an advertising company… but that was not what I wanted to do. I have an Arts Degree and wanted to be on the design and marketing team" She finished with a huff and looked down.

Severus was shocked for a moment, she was an intellectual just as he had expected. He placed his hand on the table, brushing his fingers on her knuckles. His voice was much softer and deathly quiet. "I'm shocked you have a degree" This made her look up and grace him with a small smile. He was so amazed at her achievement, in the wizarding world there were very few who would go on to education beyond school and most, himself included would do an apprenticeship. He of course had mastered potions in the small span of a year. He only realised that his fingers had been softly brushing hers when she looked down at them. Severus pulled back instantly and muttered. "I'm sorry. I have a class to teach" His voice was back to its cold tone as he stood and walked off, his cloak flurried as he strode with anger.

Little did she know, but he did not have potions to teach that period, he instead had to inflict pain upon himself to rid his mind of the betrayal he had committed, again.

She instead did have a class to teach, and this time she dreaded it. She was to teach the fifth-year students and she knew out of the whole year only two students had expressed interest, those two just so happen to be the Weasley twins. She couldn't understand why the two had specifically chosen her out of all the females around this school to focus their affections on. Perhaps it was because she was the _young, hot teacher_.

When she entered the room, she noticed the boys were early and had already taken their seats on the curved bench. Both smiled huge grins at her. This lesson was going to be hell she thought in that moment.

The lesson with Fred and George had not gone too badly, the two now both knew the defensive bubble as well as anther glyph of their own choice, which just so happen to be a glyph to continually produce green slime. This idea was great until the two started to fight over who had _dibs_ on her and they both started throwing slime at the other. Even Nazaire was not safe from their crossfire and ended that class covered in green gloopy goo.

It was unfortunate when she noticed both boys holding their books low over their pants after she had yelled continually at them for a few minutes. She had found out in that moment that these boys were aroused from being yelled at and belittled. She didn't know it was possible, but these boys had _mummy issues_.

After the two had left the room she started to laugh out loud so much so that the two boys would have heard her. She hoped that after their embarrassment that the two would move their affections on to someone else.

She returned to her own room that afternoon and let her weight drop onto the three-seater with full force. She was tired after spending her energies demonstrating spells and trying to keep students in line. She had no idea how teachers with full classes of twenty kept them all in line. She felt that she was lucky to have small numbers. She would be able to make sure that all were progressing, and none would fall behind.

Before long Nazaire had fallen into a deep sleep on the lounge, she was all tuckered out. She didn't even wake up for dinner in the Great Hall and slept until a short time after the students had their curfew.

Severus on the other hand was now worried, after he had crossed a line at lunch by absentmindedly touching her hand again. He had been late for his final period of classes after torturing himself with the _cruciatus_ curse. He did not know how much longer he could last, hurting himself almost daily for even just thinking about the new professor. He couldn't just push the attraction aside and focus on Lily.

Usually if he found a woman attractive he would just ignore them and eventually forget. But with Nazaire he genuinely liked the conversation she provided, it was not forced, and she did not expect him to speak continuously. The two felt comfortable enough to be around one another silently. He also could not just ignore Nazaire because he was tasked with protecting her, he had to know where she was at all times. Unlike this moment now. He had no idea where she was. He continued to wait patiently for her to arrive to the Great Hall, even after most students had left. The worry in him grew.

Once the room was empty he decided he needed to know where she was. He needed to see her, Now. The man quickly scrawled on a piece of parchment in his elongated and jaggered script before lifting himself out of the chair and heading for one of the castle towers.

Severus called his black tawney owl, Rabe, and the animal fluttered to land on his arm. He was stood in the owlery after having climbed the tower. He slid the scroll into the bird's leather carrying strap. He then lifted his arm high over the edge for the bird to take flight. It squawked as it flew around to the other side of the castle.

Naz was still snoozing on her big brown leather lounge until a sharp tapping noise broke the silence. The room was dark, and she could not tell what had made the noise or where it had come from. Then she heard it again, _tap tap tap._ Her eyes shot open once again, it sounded like glass being tapped. She grasped for her wand and once found, she flicked it and the candles in her room lit up all at once. As her eyes adjusted to the change in light the noise again repeated. She flicked her head toward the window and noticed two yellow eyes looking in. She was shocked for a moment but then calmed as she realised it was the familiar owl. She let the bird inside and then spoke to him. "Hey Boy, thanks for the letter. I wonder what your name is." The owl squawked at her happily as she took the scroll from him and then let him back out of the window hatch.

Naz unravelled the parchment and found the same scrawl from Severus' previous letter. She read the script slowly as not to miss anything. Then she re-read it again. She could not believe what it said and had the overwhelming urge to leave right away.

 _Miss Atkinson,_

 _I thought about your request yesterday evening and have decided that I would like to commence your lessons immediately. I would be charmed to invite you to my potions classroom this evening. Please arrive at your soonest convenience._

 _Sincerely,_

 _S.S_


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 – The Wolfsbane Potion**

 **September 2 -1993**

 **Evening**

Nazaire had quickly thrown her robe back over her black dress and made her way hurriedly down to the dungeons. At this moment she felt the most excited of her whole time at Hogwarts, even more so than when she had flown on a Hippogriff. She had always loved chemistry in high school and she expected potions to be the magical equivalent. Naz knew that with chemistry it was the closest thing to magic that the muggle world provided, her imagination flew as she had distilled and separated liquids from solids as if she were an alchemist. And her excitement grew for chemistry when the teachers had made things explode and react in unexplained ways. There was no way she could be disappointed with potions, especially when she was being taught by the very best, Mister Severus Snape.

As she continued down stairs from almost the top of the castle at the astronomy tower to the lower dungeons, she had a long time to think. Her mind graced over the man she was about to see, her attraction to him had steadily increased and especially after he had touched her hand with the lightest pressure, twice. She remembered his coarse fingertips and the texture of them rubbing small circles on her knuckles. She noticed his hands were scarred, she assumed it to be because of the profession. Cutting, crushing and processing ingredients all day must take its toll.

He on the other hand was still worrying about Nazaire. Did she now not want to learn to brew potions from him? Had she decided that she had made a mistake asking the dungeon dweller to teach her? Or was she in danger, or worse dead? All of these thoughts spiralled around in his head. He paced nervously at the door just inside of the potions room. He stressed that the woman would now back out of the agreement. He occasionally glanced at his window, expecting a return letter to tell him she would not be coming. He just needed to know if she was okay. He mulled over the thoughts in his brain and decided that the best action would be to go to her room and talk to her himself. So, he swung the door open and came face to face with the exact woman he was worrying about. She had her hand up in a fist as if she were just about to knock.

He looked down at her as she looked back up at him. Teal eyes met black eyes, and both were at a loss for words until Severus spoke. "Miss Atkinson" he paused with a sly smile on his lips. "You're late for potions class" he spoke as if he were talking to a student, but this time he was not serious. He was happy that she had come around. He was genuinely expecting her to go back on their agreement. He did not think anyone wanted to be around him willingly. His voice softened. "Please come in" he gestured inside, and she followed him in as he held the door for her.

Next it was her turn to speak. She spoke more confidently, she always felt more comfortable in small groups or one on one. Especially in privacy. "Sorry I'm late, I had an afternoon nap that quickly turned into a few hours of sleep." She looked up into his ebony eyes. "What will we be brewing today?"

Severus liked the more confident tone she was putting forward. He felt as if she was now more comfortable around him. That gave him a warm feeling inside his heart that spread out around his body. He replied to her question as if still in teaching mode. "Due to your academic excellence and continued successes in other fields, I assume you will be able to help me brew one of the hardest potions in the world." He let a full grin pull across his face.

She paused for a moment, shocked at the task she would be given. "What?" she was stunned, and that was all she could think to ask.

Severus continued in the professor tone. "This task will require an excursion to the forbidden forest and we cannot wait until any other night." His smile widened. "We will be brewing wolfsbane potions by moonlight" He ran his fingers through his dark shiny hair and looked into Nazaire's teal eyes. He saw worry within her, it concerned him. His smile faded and was replaced by a frown and a furrowed brow. He asked softly with care in his voice. "What is the matter, Naz?" that was the first time he had called her by her preferred nickname.

She looked back at him, also with a creased brow. "You're not a werewolf, are you?" She asked with concern. "I just don't want to get bitten is all"

"Of course I'm not" He reassured her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "The potions are for another teacher." She blinked at the response but was more focused on the physical touch. She was enjoying the warmth radiating from his hand, but the connection did not last long enough and was removed quickly. "Come now" His voice remained gentle. "I'll carry everything" He slung a satchel over his shoulder and picked up an empty black cauldron.

The two walked out of the castle gates and toward Hagrid's hut before making a turn for the forest. Severus lead Nazaire through the thick forest using the full moonlight to guide them. The trees seemed to be getting bigger and thicker as they moved further into the darkness. The roots gradually made their way, more and more, into the path which eventually completely disappeared.

The two continued on, into the darkening forest. Eventually the canopy of pine trees became so thick that Naz held out her wand and lit up the area around them. Instead of using _lumos_ she summoned a ball of fire with a glyph to follow them. The yellow light flickered off the trees and just as she thought they could go no further a clearing came into view.

They arrived at the clearing and it looked strangely man made. The land was perfectly flat. The trees stopped growing in a perfectly circular area. The ground was covered in mushrooms of all different types. She extinguished the flame ball as the moonlight was now bright enough in this clearing. As the ball was snuffed out something magical happened. All of the mushrooms started to glow, some white and some blue.

She was mesmerised by the location, it was so beautiful that she hardly noticed Severus speak. "This is my moonlight grotto" he lead them into the centre of the clearing where there was a small patch of dirt where some logs were sat around a firepit.

"Did you make this place" She asked with wonderment, she couldn't stop looking around at the glowing shrooms.

He considered the question for a moment before he responded. "We'll not entirely, I found this place while flying over the forbidden forest on a full-moon in my school years. I saw the glowing light and had to see what was here. I've used this place ever since as a strong concentration point for moonlight in potions" his mind returned to his own school years. He had found this grotto in his fifth year and had decided that he would bring Lily to this location. He wanted to ask her to be his girlfriend here, but the day before he could, he had called her a mudblood and lost her as a friend completely. "You are the first person I have brought here" He stated coldly.

Severus walked up to the firepit and placed the cauldron on the wrought iron holder. He swung the bag off his shoulder and sat down on one of the logs. Naz followed him and sat down on the log beside him. He made a long slow breath out of his mouth almost like a sigh. Naz assumed he was getting himself in the mindset to make a difficult potion. In actual fact he was pushing away the bad memories of Lily abandoning him for James Potter.

After calming down he started to open the drawstring sack, he pulled out a tiny vial of powdered silver, another larger vial of powdered moonstone, a bunch of burning bush held together with a length of string, a glass jar full of moonseed, wolfsbane flowers and finally a large chunk of valerian root.

Severus turned to his assistant and spoke. "Would you mind starting the fire?" She nodded happily and stood up. She squatted by the firepit and with her bare hands held them out and ignited the coals below the cauldron until they were red hot and creating a constant heat. Severus smiled at her and nodded in approval. The glowing mushrooms closest to the fire lost some of their colour, but the ones at the edge of the grotto continued to glow just as bright as before.

Severus held his wand over the cauldron and from the tip water started to fill the cauldron. He measured it to the exact level marked on the inside of the pot. He then picked up the valerian root and the burning bush and handed them to Naz. He retrieved a small knife, wooden board and a mortar and pestle from within the satchel. "Listen to me carefully, I want you to remove the leaves from the dittany and grind them to a paste. With the stems I want you to cut them into very even quarter inch segments. The valerian root, I want skinned and then ground into the dittany, but only after the dittany has oxidised." He gave her a look of endearment and then raised his eyebrows as if to ask if she understood.

"Got it!" She responded and smiled back at him.

Nazaire started by removing the leaves from the dittany vines and placed them all into the mortar and pestle. Luckily, she did not have to measure anything as Severus had already weighed everything before they set out. "Hey Severus, you went to Hogwarts right, what house were you in?" She asked as she started to grind the green leaves into a smooth paste.

"I was in Slytherin, obviously" He replied as he watched her work. He then thought of his own question. "What was muggle high school like?" He looked into her eyes as they were focused on the job. They flicked up to meet his.

"Playing twenty questions, now, are we?" She joked before she answered his question. "Muggle high school is nothing like Hogwarts, it is very boring. The only subjects I found interesting were Art… and Science, those were the two subjects where magic came to life… in a sense" She looked back down at the paste and was happy with its consistency, so she moved onto cutting the stems.

Severus was intrigued with what she meant, he did not believe the muggle world had magic, but perhaps he was wrong. "Would you mind explaining that further?" he asked in hopes to hear more of her cherry soft voice.

"Well in Art… that includes painting, drawing, sculpture, film and creative writing. In that subject the imagination runs wild. Muggles dream of magic and recreate the imagery of it within their art. This is why I did an Arts Degree." She paused and thought over her words before she continued. "Where as in science class the magic comes to life. Physics explains how the world works, when forces have an action there is an equal and opposite reaction. And chemistry is very similar to potions. Muggles use elements of the earth and their compounds to create chemical reactions, like explosions or even simply to force one chemical to turn into another. The muggles have found ways to make their own potions through chemistry, they call them drugs. These drugs can be pharmaceutical to cure sickness, or recreational, like psychedelics to have a magical experience within the mind." She smiled at the end. "I could probably find some of the latter, if you want to try" She offered.

"Hmm" He was hesitant, but perhaps muggle chemistry was similar to potions. "Okay" He responded, interested in what the muggles genuinely knew about making effective potions.

"Severus" She asked his attention now skinning the root. "Are you a pure blood wizard?" She asked, having read about muggle-born wizards, squibs and the like.

He thought for a moment, watching her skilfully peel the valerian root like she would a potato. "No, I am half-blood" he stated before continuing. "My mother was a witch and my father… he was a drunk" He snarled at the mention of his father.

She was now cutting the root into small chunks. "At least you had one good parent, I never had anyone." She looked down as if deeply saddened. "I was born in the rural countryside of Australia, out in the bush. But I never knew my parents. I was part of the child welfare system. Horrible people, more often than not, would foster me, but only so they could get payments to spend on booze and drugs." She spat out the information like it plagued her past. "Then once I was old enough to live on my own, I moved to the east coast. The beaches were lovely, and the convenience was great, but I never made any friends because I worked three jobs just to be able to pay for my small apartment." She finished. "What was your early adult hood like?" She asked the question and looked up at the man. He looked like he was deep in thought. She looked at the crushed dittany and noticed the green had turned brown. She added the root and started to crush the two together.

Severus hesitated for a moment, what would he tell her about what happened after school. Eventually she would find out from someone that he was a death eater, perhaps it would be best if it came from himself. "I" He paused. "I made many mistakes after school. My high school sweetheart married by nemesis and it broke me. One of my only friends convinced me to do something horrible, the man was very persuasive and still is. Lucius Malfoy convinced me to join the Dark Lords army and I did. I became a death eater and did his bidding. I did it so well he considered me one of his most faithful servants." He looked down to see her eyes were focused on making a paste from the root, but she was listening intently. "until one day I was told that, Lily… my Lily… along with James Potter and their son would be killed because of some stupid prophecy. That was the day I stopped serving Voldemort and instead sought the help of Dumbledore." Severus stopped, had he said too much. He did not mind, he would just wipe her memory of all he had said. "Dumbledore made me swear his loyalty in an unbreakable vow. But I was not smart enough to make my own demands. He never saved the life of Lily Ev… Potter. But I am still sworn to his side until the Dark Lord lives no more." He grabbed the stone bowl from Naz and scraped its contents into the simmering pot, the paste instantly infused with the water, dyeing it white and producing a blue flame on its surface, like an ignited alcohol. He pored in the powdered moonstone and the flames subsided, the liquid looked like a pearl, with an opaque white colour and the glimmer of the moonstone suspended in the liquid.

This confession had answered so many questions about the mysterious man, she now knew where his allegiances lie and what had happened to make him so cold and reserved. But this confession spurred another question. "What did Dumbledore tell you about me?" she was curious about his affiliation with her.

"Please crush these moonseeds with the blade" he passed her the jar of seeds before he continued to talk. "I know that you are a warlock and I know what a warlock is, he explained this all to me. But beyond that I can tell you no more." She grasped the jar and started to crush the large fifty cent sized seeds. "I now have a question for you. Do you know what power the rune within you is?" It was a question she hadn't thought about for over a month. She had been happily learning how to be a normal witch and forgot that the warlocks each had an enhanced magical power.

She answered slowly, as if unsure. "Well, after my research of the forty-two rune symbols I remember seeing one, very prominently. It was the rune of bright energy, of pure thoughts. But, alas I don't know what that means" She finished crushing the seeds and passed them to Severus, who stirred the potion another time and tossed them in.

He replied with a hum of thought. After a moment he figured it out, his eyes opened wide and then he spoke. "I know exactly what your enhanced power is, I can show you, but you will have to trust me" He looked back at her and she nodded quickly. "Okay, but we will have to finish this potion first"

Severus continued to brew, adding the final components of silver powder and wolfsbane flowers, and as the ingredients entered the surface the potion transformed. It now looked like a liquid mirror, as if it were pure mercury. As they both bottled up the potion, Severus considered when he should wipe this woman's memory. He settled on doing it after they had finished bottling. His thoughts were interrupted by a voice.

"Sev" he had not heard that name since Lily had called him it. He felt a warm feeling inside his body as she said it. He liked it. She continued with her thought when his obsidian eyes met with her teal ones. "Do you think… we could be… friends?" She asked with caution.

He thought for a moment, if she was his friend, he would feel wrong to _obliviate_ her. His mind continued to churn. He did indeed like her company, and her intelligence. Perhaps he could be friends with her and not _obliviate_ her mind. He slowly answered, the gap of his thought had been a little too long as her face dropped. "Naz" he said to get her attention. "We can be friends, on one condition. You make the unbreakable vow to never tell anyone my secrets until death." She looked back up, with a brighter glint in her eye.

"Of course, Sev. I wouldn't tell your secrets even without the vow. But I will take it, none the less" she smiled back up at him. This made his eyes also light up. He had not had a genuine friend since Lily, he felt like he needed someone to confide in. He had been going almost insane ever since he joined the death eaters, the only release from his emotional pain was physical pain.

Once the final potion was bottled, and the cauldron cleaned, she outstretched her hand as if to shake his. He gasped her wrist, and she his. He was grateful it was the right hand, he did not want her to touch his dark mark. He did not want the Dark Lord to know of her presence in the world. He pulled out his black wand and started the ritual. He placed his wand on their linked hands, a thin tongue of brilliant flame issued from the wand and wound its way around their hands like a red-hot wire. He cleared his throat and began to speak. "Will you, Nazaire Atkinson, keep all of Severus Snape's secrets close to your heart?" He looked into her eyes.

"I will" She responded, and a small burst of flame came from the incantation which wrapped itself around their hands and intertwined with the rest.

"And if anyone asks about our friendship, will you deny it?" He continued.

"I will" She responded, and another lick of flame twirled around their hands.

"And in return for your upheld vows, I… Severus Snape will protect you with my life" A third and final string of fire wrapped around their hands before the incantation was absorbed by their hands. It hurt as it sank in but was a reminder of their permanent vows of friendship. She was surprised that the man had added his own vow, why would anyone give their life for her. She could not hold back tears, one dropped down each of her cheeks. Swiftly Severus brushed them away with his thumbs. He could understand why she was crying, she thought he ad made the vow for her. This was partly true, but he had already made a promise to Dumbledore to do the same task. And his unbreakable vow to Dumbledore was that he would do _anything_ the old man told him to.

He pulled his new friend and confidant into his arms, he let her weep into his chest. He thought that this was what a friend would do, and in his mind, this was probably the last chance he would get to have a true friend before his expected death in the war to come. It was unlikely that this man would survive.

Eventually Nazaire stopped weeping and grasped the now full bag of wolfsbane potions. She cast a cushion spell on it and the glass of the bottles stopped clattering together. Severus carried the caldron but then also took the bag of potions from Naz. He placed it inside the black pot and then started walking… but not the way they had come into the clearing. "Sev, where are you going?" Naz asked.

"To show you what your enhanced power is, follow me" She nodded eagerly and followed him as they exited the glowing mushroom clearing. The way was much more rooted and dark than before, especially as the moon disappeared behind a cloud. So, Naz cast three glyph fire imps. One of these little light golems walked ahead of them and one to either side. The three did not have the same colour, one was a typical yellow, the other was a deep red and the final was a bright white. The little beasts seemed to argue with each other without words. Pulling faces and throwing hand gestures around. Naz loved magic, and every time she wanted to cast a glyph she was going to make it different. There were infinite combinations of the runes in these circular texts, which meant that she could make almost anything out of magic.

Severus had not seen such wonderful magic since he was younger, when Lily was a young girl and even up to her death she would also play around with magic and create some of the most beautiful things. Where Lily's magic was handsome, Naz's magic was quirky. His mind made up that each little fire fey was someone from her past. They looked like ugly little man-babies, and each fought with the other through some form of hand signal.

The group eventually made their way into another clearing which had a small section of the black lake seeping into the forest. Severus knew their presence had been noticed when he looked up.

Naz started to feel cold, so cold in fact that the little fire cherubs started to flicker away into nothing and then burnt out completely. The air had become deathly cold and she could see her breath. She looked at Severus who had his wand out ready to strike. He was looking up, and that's when she saw it. A black robed creature. It looked like death the reaper. She was scared, fear had washed over her. The happiness she had felt a moment earlier was replaced with sadness. Severus instinctively grasped her hand. Perhaps he had not planned this out so well. The black creature drew closer until Severus could not handle the fear anymore. He had wanted her to cast the spell but instead he did. He yelled the spell and held his wand out. " _EXPECTO PATRONUM"_ What happened next amazed even himself. Not just blue mist, but thick blue smoke rushed out of his wand and filled the area around them, the smoke then burst into lightning streams and from within a doe burst forth. But this doe was no normal _patronus_ , electricity charges emerged from its nostrils and eyes. The smoky figure of a bird was next to the doe, and as its wings flared, the doe opened its mouth. Lightning and smoke emerged from deep within it gullet and surrounded the dementor. The dark beast screamed for a moment and then stopped. The patronus died down and the blue smoke disappeared. What was left of the dementor… nothing.

"Was that a _patronus_?" Naz wondered, she had never seen magic so powerful, no wonder why she could not produce one herself.

Severus looked just as shocked before he turned to look at Naz and speak. "No, that was not just any _patronus._ That was your patronus, channelled through mine" he held up their joined hands and motioned to their connection.

"So, my patronus is a dear?" She asked. Severus shook his head before he answered.

"No, the doe is my _patronus_. There was another presence. Yours must be a bird but I could not tell you what type." He explained, still shocked from the immense power of this spell. He was not even sure if Dumbledore could produce a patronus strong enough to kill dementors. "This must have been what the muggles reported when they saw you fuse with the rune" He still could not believe how powerful this ancient magic was. He could understand why it had been outlawed.

Still holding Naz's hand he started to walk back toward the castle. As the two continued on their trek they noticed the thick roots start to thin. The castle came into view between the outlines of the tall dark trees the dreaded feeling that remained in her from the dementor attack faded and the warmth of the castle replaced it with comfort. Severus griped her hand tighter before letting it go, as if to say he enjoyed the connection but did not want anyone to see them like this.

Severus' plan was to immediately go to the headmaster's office. He now had important information to share with him. The two rushed up the hill and toward the castle gates. Naz could tell Severus was on a mission.

The two reached the headmasters gargoyle and as if by the presence of Severus, it opened without a password. Up the stairs and into the old wizard's office they hurried. He was standing in the centre of the room with his hands clasped together as if waiting for them.

"I see you have unlocked the rune that lies within her, Severus" the headmaster stated as he paced closer. He paused before turning to Naz. "Nazaire, I must ask that you return to your quarters. I have something to discuss with Severus" The doors opened again behind her and she took her leave.

Heading back to her room, she wondered what the two men were discussing. She hated all of this secrecy that Dumbledore surrounded himself with. She just wanted to know what was going on, why couldn't he tell her? He expected her to put all of her faith in him, yet he would put none in her. It frustrated her. She slammed her door as she entered the room and flopped on the bed in defeat.

She tried to sleep but her mind rushed with the events of the night. She had finally befriended the dungeon dweller, a task many would say is impossible. She was so surprised that beneath his rigid exterior was an emotional man, dealing with the issues of his past. She concluded that Lily was the woman who had broken him, she could see the want in his eyes as he talked of her. He had also told her of his parents and the tough up-bringing that he had lived through. She felt as if they could confide in each other and knew the man needed it. That is why she willingly took the unbreakable vow, knowing that she would not tell anyone his secrets anyway.

Thoughts continued to rush through her head until finally the night had become so late that her body could not stay awake. She drifted off into a sleep that took her away to another world of dreams.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 – The Dark Wizard Lathatlan**

She entered a dream state which was more like a lucid dream than anything. She was in a dark room. The walls were wood, and the plaster peeled off in many places revealing some of the structural beams underneath. The warped floor boards creaked under her feet and many were missing. The room seemed to be still. Too still. She walked up the stairs within this building and the only sounds that could be heard were the creaks of each unsteady footstep she took.

Upon entering this room, she noticed a trail of blood. It looked like it had been pulled along the ground by the body of a snake and slithered into the direction she was walking. She followed the trail closer to it source and the smell of iron permeated the air.

She followed as the red trail became thicker and turned the corner into the adjacent room. The air was thicker in this area and dust still hung in the air, creating a translucent screen that made it hard to see.

She continued to follow the trail until it turned into a pool of blood. Slowly moving her eyes up from the puddle, she first saw a black cloak. It was sat in the pool of blood and had soaked up much of it, looking like an oily wetness in its dark folds. She next saw what was wearing the cloak. A man. His body was limp and was propped against a wall in a seated position.

The mans sleave was ripped up to the elbow, revealing a blackened tattoo of a snake. The blood had rushed down this arm and left it covered in a trail of congealed blood. Her eyes continued up his torso until she reached his head. Familiar raven black hair topped his slumped over skull. She knew who this was. This was her friend, Severus Snape.

She dropped down next to him and landed with her knees in his blood. It soaked into her black dress, but she did not care. She softly placed her hands on either cheek and lifted up his face to look at the dead man. His obsidian eyes were open but lifeless and blank. His expression was a mixture of pain and pleading. She could also see his dried tears that had rolled down his cheeks. The moment she saw his lifeless face she also started to cry. Her tears dripped off her chin and landed in the pool of blood. An overwhelming sadness filled her, more than what she would feel for a friend but that of a lost partner. Her lover.

She brushed his bloodied hair out of his face and noticed a multitude of gashes along his neck. As if a huge snake with razor teeth had ripped into his flesh multiple times. Shock and horror rushed through her. What was she to do? Her weeping continued as she held his body close and cradled him in her arms. She rocked back and forth in a trance of tragedy. Then pulled his lifeless chest to hers. Her quickly beating heart against his still dead chest. Her body started to ache, originating from her heart and outstretching to her limbs. From behind her closed weeping eyelids she could see the world around her was becoming bright as if the sun was shining in her eyes. she clenched her eyes closed tighter but the light did not diminish. Pain coursed through her body, a pain like no other. She started to scream into the limp body's shoulder. She screamed his name over and over. The bright light around her, and both physical agony, and emotional ache grew to be so intense that she felt as if she could not stay in the dream any longer, her consciousness slipped away.

In an instant she awoke, her body covered in sweats from the night terrors. She had thought the dream almost real. It felt as though it were. Everything was so tactile and felt like it was physically there. She looked around to re-assure that she was awake. Her bed sheets were strewn across the bed and she could see where she had been clasping her hands into the under-covers.

She swiftly lifted herself off the sweat drenched bed. She felt the salty remains of tears on her cheeks. Naz decided that a warm shower would help her calm down from this nightmare.

 **21 September 1993**

The first three weeks of term had now passed and Naz enjoyed teaching the seventh-year student the most. There was only one, but the Ravenclaw girl had quickly mastered the names and uses of each of the forty-two runes. In the past week these classes had just become the two of them experimenting with what fantastical magic they could create.

In one lesson Naz had managed to turn the floor of the classroom into a pond and summoned two koi fish to dance with one another like yin and yang. Selina, the Ravenclaw girl, had furthered the glyph and turned the koi fish into Japanese water dragons. Naz wanted to keep this scene forever, the magic was so wonderful and calming. She shrunk the scene and placed it into a large flat golden bowl. Selina then made the item useful, the dragons would dance about in the pond, and if watched long enough they would breathe fire that spelled out the time. Naz was so proud of her student and enchanted the koi pond to sit up on the wall for all the classes to use as the clock.

Nazaire loved the weekends, which just so happen to be today. In these times she and Severus would brew potions together. Severus had started out measuring out the ingredients and stirring the potions for Naz, the harder and more crucial parts, but eventually the two swapped roles. He had told her last weekend that she was a natural.

Their friendship grew stronger over the few weeks that passed but occasionally he would tell her to leave early. In those moments it was usually sparked if she touched him or visa-versa. She had once leaned over him to retrieve an ingredient, she purposely did such to show of her cleavage. That day in particular she had enchanted her bra and corset to make her chest a little extra, just hoping she would be able to further their friendship. But at the sight of her and the closeness of her chest to his face, he became rigid and in a very quiet but deadly deep voice he had asked her to leave immediately. She figured that these reactions stemmed from his childhood. He had told her that his father beat him and his mother. She concluded that when people were in his personal space he would have flashbacks. But this was not the real reason, she did not truly understand what was going through his mind. He would ask her to leave every time he felt his pants tighten. He would punish himself for his betrayal after she had left his classroom. But something had changed, his attraction to her was slowly becoming more than that. He definitely did not love her, but their conversations gave him some solace. Also, when he punished himself for his impure thoughts the pain was less intense. It was somewhat... strangely enjoyable.

On this particular day Severus dreaded the events that were about to unfold. On the night of the wolfsbane potion, Dumbledore had told him that he and the warlock would need to go on a long mission in the near future, that near future was today. Dumbledore had heard news from one of his informants that their target had been spotted. This target was a particularly _evasive_ evil wizard, one that Severus knew personally. His name was Mishka Lathatlan, an old follower of the Dark Lord. This wizard was not part of the inner circle but instead was a tentacle used to control parts of Eastern Europe. The informant had said that Lathatlan was going to be at the Unattainable Academia for the next two days. The Unattainable Academia this was one of the oldest wizard universities of Europe. The campus was within the Labyrinth beneath Buda Castle in Budapest and only accepted wizards of exceeding age to enter their orders ranks. Lathatlan had been a member of this cult for thirty-three years, since he had turned sixty-seven. The reason for his visit was that today was his one hundredth birthday, and tonight was the feast for his inauguration into the upper circle of grand wizards.

Dumbledore was adamant that this man be assassinated, if he were to enter this position of power the whole east would join the Dark Lords cause, it would become a European wizard war. Severus was told to end his life by any means. The reason for his difficult locating is that the man is never seen. He is noticed in one location and then hours later located in another with no way to trace him.

But aside from this fact, Severus had a plan. Their inside informant had been told to send a lock of hair stolen from one of the Academia's members. Severus was to impersonate him with a Polyjuice potion, to gain entry. As for Naz, he had a different plan to get her inside.

The two usually met on the weekends in the potions classroom a little after mid-morning. Severus had made Dumbledore aware of their arrangement and the unbreakable vow. Severus was expecting his reaction to be that of anger but strangely the old man just nodded with understanding behind his eyes. Nazaire was surprised to hear that Dumbledore had con-joined her room's fireplace to Severus' office via the floo network to avoid suspicions of their friendship.

At exactly ten thirty, green fire blazed in Severus's office and Nazaire exited his hearth. Nazaire was a little jealous of Severus' rooms. His were all joined together, whereas Nazaire would have to walk from her own quarters near the Astronomy Tower to her classroom in the Eastern Wing. He also had a separate office off the side of his classroom, with a personal brewing station the two of them would use occasionally. From his office there were three other doors, one opened into a long hallway with shelves on either side where the potion ingredients were kept. At the other end of this hall was another door that joined back into the potions classroom. The second door was a large store room that contained a wall of completed potions, meticulously organised, and the rest of this room was full of glass vials, cauldrons and other supplies used for potion creation. The third door however she assumed was his personal quarters, as when he gave her the tour he skipped this door. But this was just a speculation, for all she knew this could have a room of kittens on the other side.

She giggled at the joke within her head and Severus looked up from the essays he was marking. "What is so funny?" He asked in his deep baritone voice.

"Oh, nothing. Just my silly brain" she replied before she felt a twinge in her head. Severus snickered a moment later.

"Yes Naz, that is exactly what is behind that door" He said in a sarcastic tone and then continued in his monotone voice. "I'm hoarding the cuteness all for myself" The two burst out laughing.

Nazaire was shocked the first time she had her mind entered by Severus, but it had become a regular occurrence if she did not tell him something he wanted to know. He was always gentle when probing her mind, only a twinge was felt. He once told her to resist more and that her mind was weak, but when he tried to enter again after this he was stuck at a rock-solid wall. The warlock abilities had allowed her to learn _Occlumency_ almost instantly, but she kept her mind open to Severus most of the time, she trusted him. The only times she closed her mind off were when he rightfully pissed her of or on the common occasion that she would fantasise about him. Even though she now knew _Occlumency_ she was respectful of another person's privacy, she had not yet entered the mind of someone else, especially not Severus. She knew that if she did it would break his hard-earned trust in her immediately.

When Severus stopped laughing his face dropped into a stern look. It was something Naz had started to pick up on. "What's the matter?" She asked.

"We are not going to be making a potion today?" Naz was worried, it sounded like he was about to send her out.

"Oh" She replied with a tone of defeat.

Severus paused to think before he spoke again. "We are going on a mission for Dumbledore" her face perked back up again. The last mission they went on was one of the biggest adrenaline rushes she had ever experienced. She enjoyed combat with a wand. "We are going quite far away too. And because apparition and the floo network are traceable… we are going to have to fly there" He could feel the excitement seeping out of her. "Please don't be so excited, this mission is going to be much more perilous than Sirius Black. We will be infiltrating one of the most dangerous wizarding organisations in disguise to locate an evil wizard. You will have to do everything I tell you to, with no questions asked" She nodded in response.

"So, when do we head out?" she asked.

He looked into her excited eyes and signed at her innocence. "Now" he replied simply before walking over to a broom closet and retrieving an almost immaculate firebolt. She never thought Severus would own such a broom. He had told her once that he was quite a good flyer in his youth, being the quidditch referee but also mentioned that since he learned how to fly without a broom he would be out of practice. "I won't be able to carry you there in my arms, this is going to be a few hour flight. Besides, I'm not that much out of practice." He replied to her thoughts as if she spoke them.

Severus had already packed the supplies he needed for this assassination. A flask of Polyjuice potion, his wand and a poison dagger were all stashed away in his robe pockets. The two of them Flooed up to Naz's room and from there walked up to the top of the astronomy tower. It was lucky this weekend was a Hogsmeade trip and most of the students were away. The rest of the first and second year students did not even know this tower existed. They did not see a soul on their way to the top.

Severus stepped over the broom as it hovered between his legs, he motioned for Naz to do the same in front of him. So, she did but was surprised when Severus stepped inward until his chest was flush against her back, he also gripped her around the waist with one arm and grasped the broom with his other hand.

Naz's heart started to pound. She could not believe Severus was so close, so warm. Severus could sense her agitation but pinned it down to the fact that they were both 10 feet of the ground. He leaned forward and the two sped off with the force of the firebolt causing Severus to brace Naz tighter against him. He enjoyed holding her close too much. She was the first to tandem ride with him, even Lily had not wanted to after he called her a _mudblood_. He was so glad that Naz wanted to be his friend, he was still surprised by that night they made the vow and was so happy he had not _obliviated_ her mind. He had someone to confide in now. He had told her some of the things from his past, like his family issues or the harassment from the marauders. He had not mentioned any of the memories about Lily, except for the first summary he explained on that night in the grotto.

But the two did not always talk about the bad, most of the time they discussed the good. He told her about his final marks in school, having been named the valedictorian of the entire school. He had wanted to go onto further educations at a university but lacked the funds and was expected to move out of his house. To make ends meat he took up an apprenticeship with the apothecary in Diagon Alley. Naz then understood why the store owner knew Severus, he had been the mans apprentice.

Although the two talked about their past with each other, Severus never mentioned the things he had done as a Death Eater. He was sure she did not want to hear about all of the people he was forced to kill and torture. She had also hidden some parts of her past from him too. Back in Australia Naz had been an accomplice to drug dealers, she had trafficked them across state lines and in and out of the country. That was why she was on the holiday to the UK anyway. Another thing she never mentioned was her own addictions, to well every type of psychedelic. She remembered he had said he wanted to try some after she offered, but she was not sure if he would accept her immoralities and her history. Neither expected the other would be willing to look past their own flaws.

The two flew in silence over the English Channel, both lost in their own thoughts as the French coastline started to come into view. The sun was directly overhead through the middle of the day and it became very hot in their black garb.

Severus had noticed his body cooling down not too long after the sweat on his brow. When he looked up he noticed a tiny cloud above them, Naz had been windlessly casting it over them as soon as she herself became hot. As if to thank her for the shade Severus gave her a little squeeze. He had been holding her for the entire hour and a half that had passed in their journey from Scotland.

Naz felt the little squeeze Severus gave her. She had been so lost in thoughts that she forgot that she was being held closely by her very attractive friend. She wondered if he would ever think of her as more than a friend. Perhaps she had gotten herself stuck in the friend zone. For a moment she wondered if they could be… friends with benefits in the future. But Naz would not be able to do that, it would kill her. She did not love him yet, but her feelings were definitely growing stronger for him. Naz had never really found casual sex appealing, day after she would feel horrible. She had been interested in the sexual sciences back in university and discovered that she was what they call; demisexual… no that did not mean she liked to only bang chicks with the name Demi. It meant that she needed to know someone really well to be able to have enjoyable sex with them. She did not think she knew Severus well enough at the moment for that. But she did think that the best decision of her life was that unbreakable vow she took. Severus did tell her that he was going to _obliviate_ her until she asked to be his friend.

The two were now passing over the Swiss Alps, the cloud had long been whisked away as the nippy mountain air chilled them to the bone. Both were glad that they were closely up against the other, sharing the warmth. The view was impeccable. The blue rock of these mountains complimented the white capped tops. Naz thought she was crazy when she saw it, there was a creature nestled in the crux of one of these mountains. It was covered in spinney black and grey scales. The creature had a huge gaunt looking head and its muscular body was surrounded in plated scales. She never thought they existed but here one was. A real-life dragon. The two passed over the sleeping dragon silently as Severus gave her another quick squeeze.

After seven and a half hours of traveling by broomstick the two started to see the city of Budapest come into view. The city looked magnificently imperial in the afternoon sunset, hundreds of intricately designed white buildings dotted the city. Some had golden accents and huge domes topping them. The churches with huge buttresses stood tall and were surrounded by magnificent gardens. Other parts of the city were more modern and contained modernistic muggle structures. Cars lined the streets as peak hour had caused the traffic to bank up.

Atop the hill at the edge of the city stood Buda Castle. The castle was made up of four white grand buildings that surrounded a central courtyard. It looked to have a similar architecture to the British houses of parliament. All of the rooves were made from copper as well as the main hall which was topped with a copper dome, they had turned green over time, this same affect was repeated to many of the copper animal statues around the castles grounds. A huge white chapel was also within the castle grounds, it supported a tall pointed steeple. Surrounding the castle on one side was the dense forest and boarding the other side was the city edge and adjacent to that was a massive docking area by the river, attached to the regal castle via walkways. The front gates were heavily guarded, and it looked as though a massive ball were being held tonight by the muggles who lived above the wizards in their underground labyrinth. Women dressed in magnificent dresses and their men in black tuxedos escorted them through the front gates.

Severus decided that the best action would be to land in the forest and then discuss the plan of entering the castle grounds. So, he started to decent on the broom until they slowly dipped below the canopy and landed safely onto solid round. Naz hopped off the broom instantly and hobbled over toward a near by log to stretch her legs on. Both magic users felt very stiff after the long journey. Naz thought that riding on a broomstick for that long was worse than a motorbike for the same amount of time. Severus was feeling equivalent discomfort but as always, he endured the pain to remain his usual nonchalant disposition.

Naz was the first to speak up. "So, what do you want to do, Climb the wall or break through it?" Her enthusiasm to break in was evident. She had wanted adventure like this for so long.

He looked at her with wrinkled brows as if disappointed she did not see the obvious answer. "Neither" He responded shortly. He looked at her with passion in his eye. "Would you like me to show you how I intend to get in" He swiftly pulled out his wand and turned it on himself. His black robes transformed into an elegant, all black, three-piece suit. Naz was impressed at his new appearance, he looked quite dapper she thought. He then pointed his wand at her and transfigured her black dress and cloak into an elegant navy-blue dress with a slit up her leg. The material was a fine silk that had a sheen to it like raven feathers. Her wand had moved from its spot on her belt to a leather holster on her leg.

"I thought we were here to get into the Unattainable Academia, not the muggle ball" Nazaire asked looking quite confused.

Severus smirked before he answered. "This is just to get through the front gate" He offered her his arm as if they were about to apparate. She hesitated before she gripped onto the top of his hand. The two walked out from the edge of the forest to a ledge that dropped down onto a path. Severus made his way down first and then offered his hands as she neared the ledge. He lifted her by the waist and then placed her down onto the path next to him. She could not believe he was strong enough to lift her, let alone so gracefully.

The two walked around to the front gate where security guards were posted, checking names off a list. Nazaire looked between him and the guard before she spoke. "Don't worry Sev, I've got this one sorted" She placed her arm around his and walked them up to the security guard, instantly his eyes glassed over as she moved her free hand slightly by her side. The next words she spoke confused Severus. "These aren't the droids you are looking for" What was she on about?

Then what the door guard said next shocked him. "These aren't the droids we're looking for"

"You're a complete moron" she moved her hand in a small circular motion.

The other door guard started to snicker. The first then responded. "I am a complete moron"

"Move along" she said finally.

"Move along" the door man said with a blank expression. With that Nazaire pulled Severus through the large archway. Behind them both door guards laughed with each other heartily.

"What are you doing? You're going to get us noticed!" Severus whispered sternly into her ear. "Not to mention the Imperious curse is _illegal_ "

"I didn't use any spells on him" She stated. "I used a little trick called deduction" She continued as they walked into a silent _lover's nook._

"What do you mean? You obviously were controlling him with your magic" Severus was both frustrated and worried that the ministry would now know their location because she used magic on a muggle.

"First of all, the only magic I used was muggle comedy. That man was wearing a shirt that said _Star Wars_. What I did was reference a scene I knew the man would find funny, so he would let us in" She paused to see his reaction. "Its called _nerd flirting_ "

Severus looked at her for a moment trying to process what had just happened. He responded as if admitting defeat. "You are smarter than I expected" Severus thought her a genius, but his mind flipped back to the task. He needed to find the entrance to the Unattainable Academia. Dumbledore had told him that the entrance was in the garden. His mind flashed back to the old mas voice. _'Tap the lions paw three times and speak his name'_. Severus grasped Nazaire's hand again and walked her around the castle grounds. From within it looked like a royal palace. Party goers walked around in small groups within the foyer garden but once the two had walked around the side of the central building to the back of the castles grounds, there seemed to be no people in sight.

Severus pulled Nazaire along and then ducked them both down behind a pillar. The two could clearly hear footsteps until the source stopped just short of them. The noise of three taps before an old voice spoke. "Gryffindor" The voice was thick with an Eastern European accent. Severus slowly stood up and saw a wizard in the red Unattainable Academia robes descend some stairs into the underground.

Severus leaned back down and winked at Nazaire. "You are going to have to trust me, what I'm about to do to you may shock you" He again pointed his wand at her and in a moment, she felt her body change, she felt like she was shrinking. Looking down at her arms she noticed they had changed into black wings, and Severus was much larger now. It felt as though she were only two foot tall. She tried to speak but all that came out of her mouth was a squawk. She looked around at her body, her neck seemed to be able to spin one-eighty degrees. She had become a black bird, not just a black bird, but a raven.

Severus looked down at his successful transfiguration before he shuffled through his robes and pulled out a flask. He took a long drink and scrunched his face before he swallowed the disgustingly thick potion. His skin started to wrinkle, his nose became larger, his hair grew longer and started to grey. From his face a long beard grew, and his height shortened by at least a foot and a half. The old man in front of her looked completely different from Severus, she then understood this was not an aging potion but instead a Polyjuice potion. The man transfigured his dress-suit into a long red robe. He also added a red wizard hat to the top of his head. The old man in front of Naz bent down and offered his arm. "Up" He spoke as if he were talking to an animal… oh right she was an animal. She hopped up his arm and rested on his shoulder.

Once settled on his shoulder the man started to walk toward the green copper statue of a lion. He tapped his hand on its paw and spoke in an old voice, putting on an Eastern European accent. "Gryffindor" The stairwell opened in front of them. Severus took a deep breath before he proceeded to take the first step into the Unattainable Academia.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 – The Disappearing Man**

The old man with the raven on his shoulder walked down the stone stairs, each one was worn away smooth where feet have used them for centuries. The underground academia was vast and full of different turns and twists; therefore it was named the Labyrinth. The tunnels were dark and every few meters had supporting beams in the middle of the hallway. The rough texture of the stone walls created shadows cast by the torch light.

Severus was indeed successfully disguised as one of the ancient students of this school, he hobbled along in this old mans body feeling the tight clutch of the raven's claws in his shoulder. As he continued to walk along they passed a cat, its tail twitched as it saw them and then moved closer to the two. The cat meowed. This caused Severus to twitch, he turned around and the cat meowed again. He offered his hand out before the feline started to stroke itself on his hand. The dark disguised man sighed as the cat was happy with his touch.

Severus always worried if animals could sense someone was an imposter, he kicked himself to have not thought about this fact when he decided to use Polyjuice potion. He was especially worried now. This university was created by a familiar, an animal companion. This meant all the wizards here have animal companions. Some animal familiars could talk to their masters either via _occlumency_ or if the wizard could speak that animal's language. He hoped that the cat was just interested in a pat and did not suspect he was a phony.

Severus brushed of the inconvenience and continued to walk. He had no idea where he was going, passing lizards and birds on pedestals and doors after doors. He scanned each one of the doors, they each had names on them. He must have passed more than one hundred differently named doors, but all the halls were empty. Each of these rooms was a student's own quarters. Nazaire had also been looking around from atop the mans shoulder and once she saw the name he had mentioned they were coming here for she pecked his ear and then pointed at the door named _'Mishka Lathatlan'_ with her wing.

Severus felt a prick of his ear and looked up at the bird on his shoulder with a frown. Why did she just peck him? But as he looked, he understood. The raven was pointing at a door with the name of their target on it. He rushed toward it and pulled out his wand. He checked the room for wards, none. He silently cast _alohomora_ and slowly opened the door. But alas, no one was inside.

The room was very small, only big enough to fit a single bed, a small desk and chair and a chest of drawers. Naz thought this was typical of a university dorm room, but something she noticed was strange, this room wasn't just empty of its occupant. It had not been used at all. The bed inside this room had been neatly made, but on top of the covers was a layer of dust, as if this room had not been used for years.

Severus was not as phased by this, he knew that ever since Mishka joined the Dark Lords side he had not been living at this university. He had killed a man and stolen his castle in South Germany, where he had set up headquarters for The Dark lord to reside when in Europe. Lathatlan had been slowly building up an army of giants, hobgoblins and other mountain dwelling creatures. These were the plans made fourteen years ago when Voldemort was still alive. His goal was to take over the world and he had been spreading out men to gain areas of land for him. Mishka Lathatlan was one of these men. He had to be killed but Severus really did not have a choice, he had sworn to do whatever Dumbledore had told him and this was an order.

Severus left the room with a huff. He was now concerned that the man he was after may not even be here. So, the two continued on down the hall until they finally started to hear noises. The sounds of people clapping, Severus started to walk faster toward the noise. Through the maze-like halls and turn after turn, until he found a pair of large red doors opened into a great hall.

He passed through the red doors, they had golden metal adorned on them forged in the shape of a lion's head. He slipped into the crowd of elderly men in red robes. Their pointed hats made the room look like it was full of red traffic cones. Every man in this room had a creature with them. Three bearded dragons sat around one mans neck and another old fellow had a mouse running around the brim of his hat. Cats and kittens walked around the feet of some and others had larger beasts that they sat on. One old man in a deeper crimson robe sat atop a grizzly bear.

This Academia was not a place of bad men, most were pure of heart and here to learn, none of them had suspected that under their noses was a madman growing into a powerful position. Some of these men were virtuous, some were immoral, but all had one thing in common, they had their attentions on one dark crimson robed wizard on the stage.

This wizard looked ancient, his body frail and thin and he only stood about four foot tall. His eyes squinted behind thin glasses. This man looked to be well above one hundred years old. He gripped a plain staff in his hand, which was used more as a walking stick than a magical item. He had made his way slowly across the stage and stood in the middle before he spoke in a hoarse voice that had been amplified around the room.

"Welcome all. As most of you know, tonight is a special occasion. I am glad to see all of you again gathered together in this hall to celebrate one of our brightest members centurion rite. For those of you who are new members, this is when a member reaches their one-hundredth birth year." The elderly men clapped politely. "I would like to welcome Mishka Lathatlan" the ancient and shrivelled up man gestured to the left of the stage where another wizard stood tall. He had the hood if his bright red robe drawn over his head. Mishka made his way toward the older wizard and the sound of his black sleek staff could be heard in the now silent hall as it tapped the wooden stage every step he took.

Nazaire could not see their targets face and she was not sure if Severus could see it either. The hood remained up when he arrived at the centre stage. The room darkened until it was very dimly lit by the remaining torchlight. Deep drums started to rumble behind the hall of men. Then, upon the stage a brazier was lit.

The older man spoke again. "The old will be burned and from the flames the new will burst forth" as if on queue Lathatlan removed his robe in the darkness and threw it into the fire. The light from the flames licked the one-hundred-year old's body and revealed a very muscular frame and a small amount of black chest hair. Nazaire could see that their target looked no older than fifty.

The flames within the brazier died down to a deep red and then in an instant burst forth to surround the mans body, the light in the room started to brighten to reveal the man now dressed in a dark crimson robe like the rest of the oldest men.

Nazaire looked toward Severus' face and noticed the unfamiliar eyes looking directly at the man on the stage with fury.

"The inauguration is complete, he will now move forth to the pool of enlightenment to find his new familiar" the old man concluded. Mishka was now walking down the centre stairs of the stone stage. He continued to walk quite swiftly, holding his black staff tightly as it tapped on the ground. Atop this staff was what Nazaire could only describe as the largest diamond she had ever seen. It was expertly cut, with crystal clarity. This thing must have been worth millions she thought. he continued to walk through the centre of the crowd, which split to allow him passage to the back doors.

Nazaire could finally see his face, this man looked much too young to be one-hundred. He had black hair with only a few silver streaks. This dark hair matched his neatly kept black moustache and goatee. His eyes looked devastatingly evil, she could see his malevolent soul through them.

As he passed by her she was drawn toward the diamond again. She wanted it, she needed it. As he left the room she could not stand it anymore, flapping to take flight she flew out of the gold lion doors and followed the dark-haired man dressed in crimson. Her mind had completely forgotten about Severus. Her mind had forgotten about everything, she needed this diamond. What had come over her, was it greed? Or was being a raven attracting her so much to this shiny object. Her body seemed to act on its own.

Severus had noticed the raven leave his shoulder but could not follow along. Why had Nazaire left to follow Lathatlan, he wondered? He reached out his mind to hers, it was too easy to enter, but something inside it was different. He could not see any thoughts except for what she saw through those black beady eyes, there was no inner voice like usual.

He watched the bird follow this man through halls and corridors until finally he arrived at a big, metal door. Severus memorised the route over and over in his head. He was unable to leave as the elderly men kept their attention on the door for a moment before starting to mingle and converse with old Accademia friends. One man approached him.

Meanwhile Nazaire had been noticed by the dark wizard when she entered the room. "Ahh, why is a raven drawn toward me? Have you not already a master?" he questioned after the bird had followed him into the blue lit room. The dark wizard walked fully robed into a crystal-clear pool in the centre of the room. The water started to steam upon contact. Nazaire flew around the top if the pool, unable to get any closer to the diamond.

She landed not too far from the edge of the pool, in front of this dark wizard. His eyes penetrated hers. The man then continued to speak. "I could take on another familiar, perhaps this is the sign I seek. Do you want to abandon your master and take on me?" the wizards voice was fluid and charming, he was talking as if he were trying to persuade.

Nazaire did not answer, she just stared into this mans eyes with her own black raven eyes. He continued to speak. "I would be a much better master. Don't you trust me?" He asked with an evil grin. "I am much more powerful too!" he continued with an inflated ego. "Much more influential. That old man you were with wore the initiate robe, don't you want to be with a centurion?"

Nazaire continued to stare at this man before he started to grip his staff tighter and bore into the black beads that were her eyes. He then continued to talk to her. "Why wont you talk back to me raven? Don't you want a wizard so powerful he can do this!" instantly the man disappeared. Her eyes were now free to themselves again and she looked around noticing that the water he stood in started to ripple as if something were coming closer. Her little taloned feet took a step backward. He then reappeared an inch from her beak. She was again in the trance of his eyes. Nazaire's orbs were stuck on his, she could not remove them. It looked as if he peered into her soul.

Mishka's eyes darkened with lust before he spoke again. "I know exactly what you are" Her eyes winded, she was trapped in her own skin. It was if his eye contact held her in place. "You aren't a raven at all!" He yelled. And threw a spell at her, she felt her body come back to her. She had returned to her normal form, as she sat on the edge of the pool an inch from this mans face. His eyes darkened further.

Nazaire did not know what to do. She could not move and was face to face with a man she couldn't fight off. He held her in a vice. This man placed his staff on the edge of the pool and grasped her arms with both of his hands before he spoke again with a snarl. "This little minx is going to pay for her prying" he grinned to show off filed teeth that came to points. Fear struck through Nazaire, she had read about this body modification. It was something that only cannibals would do. But what could she do to escape? This man had her under the imperious curse, forcing her to stay still, forcing her into this vice grip.

She was scared, her mind screamed out loud. It cried. It wept Severus' name. she hoped he could hear her, if not she was as good as dead. And when they found her body she would be a sight for sore eyes. Lathatlan's shark teeth moved closer to her neck, he sniffed in her scent deeply before he opened his mouth wide.

Instantly the door flung open and a knife was hurled through the air to stick into this beast of a man's back. He instantly died, no noise was made, just death. Blood started to fill the crystal-clear water and mixed with it to become a translucent red. From beyond the steaming pool, Nazaire saw a figure dressed in black, with raven coloured hair and a familiar face. It was Severus.

"Sev" She breathed a sign of relief. "Thank you" she mouthed as tears rolled down her cheeks. He just returned a concerned look. Severus was angry with himself, he had let this woman be in danger. He had let his friend, the woman he cared for, almost die at the hands of this despicable cannibal.

Severus strode over to the woman and ripped the dagger out of the mans back, orange paste had been added to its blade, it looked like iodine. Nazaire knew this was Le'traint Poison, an instant heart stopper. Severus then threw the body aside and closed the gap between the pair. The dead cannibal's corpse floated atop the water. His arms wrapped around her tightly. He placed his hand at the back of her head and pushed her tear covered face into his chest. He assumed that this is what friends did for each other. "I'm sorry Nazaire. I should have come sooner." He had been trapped in that hall for a while as Academia members came up to him to speak. When he heard Nazaire's distress he left mid conversation and once away from the crowd, ran to save her. Luckily, he had not hesitated any longer as the Polyjuice potions effects ran out as soon as he left the assemblage. "This man is a death eater, and Dumbledore ordered me to kill him… I hope you can forgive me" He apologised further and stroked her hair in his hand. Her head moved up and down while still pressed into his chest, was that a nod? Perhaps she was only okay with the killing because she was almost killed by that same man. He did not think she would ever forgive him for his previous murders.

He placed his hands on her upper arms and pulled her away from his chest to look into her eyes. "Death Eaters are bad people… myself including" he implored as their eyes met.

Nazaire knew what atrocities Death Eaters committed but Severus seemed to be genuinely grievous of the crime he just committed. She grasped his forearms in return and then spoke. "It's okay Severus" She smiled and then responded. "If I wasn't under the imperious curse and could move I would have killed him myself" He then half-smiled back at her. "Besides, I knew we were here to kill the bastard… even though you did not tell me" She looked down at their soaked legs for a moment before returning to his intense gaze. The water was now becoming a muddied red, it reminded her of the dream she had three weeks earlier. She huffed and looked away from his obsidian eyes.

She then noticed the staff… and the diamond. It called to her again. She did not understand why, she was no longer a raven.

Her body stiffened and pulled roughly out of Severus' grip and out of its own willpower started to move her toward the staff. She instantly had a flashback to the summer in Wales. Was this another rune? Her hand outstretched to grasp the stone as Severus looked on in awe. Why did she pull away from him? He felt pain strike his heart but before it could sink in he saw a light flash and then she disappeared.

His mind flooded with worry, had she apparated away from him? Where would she go, back to Hogwarts?

Nazaire felt the pain shoot up her arm again and she screamed out as the agony coursed through her shoulder and implanted itself into her chest. Then the same thing occurred, she saw the white tunnel flash forward and throw her into a dimension of chaos. Colours and patterns floated around her vision, joining into visible runes and then disjoining again to create new shapes. The pain had disappeared now as she felt warmth surround her. She recognised this experience, she'd had it before. Long before the first rune, this was very similar to her first true DMT trip. She had gone to the amazon with her _'co-workers'_ on a mule run, they were bringing a bulk load of cocaine back from the jungle, but while they were there the group had tried the local delicacy, Ayahuasca.

Then again, the same thing happened, thoughts were implanted into her head, more past lives merged with her soul and then the visuals she had seen joined into another rune, this rune stayed in her vision and did not dissipate. It looked like a diamond with a line underneath it. Then she felt the familiar feeling of sleep.

Severus was still shocked that she had disappeared, but a scream snapped him out of his self-loathing. She was still here, he reached out and felt her cold body. It was shivering, and about to… fall. He clasped his arms around the seizing woman and lifted her invisible body into his arms as she continued to shake. He noticed that where the staff once was had now been replaced by a line of ash. It had disintegrated at her touch.

He walked out of the bloodied pool and carried her still unseen body to the door. Beyond the metal barrier he could hear footsteps. How was he to get her out of here and not be noticed?

Her body stopped moving and then re-appeared. She was unconscious. Severus tried to think quickly, he decided to make a run for it. He flung the door open and instantly transformed into a cloud of black smoke. Rocketing over the heads of hundreds of powerful and ancient wizards, they all looked shocked for a moment and then the onslaught came. Spells of all colours and sizes bombarded the walls around him. Some of the men yelled to ' _kill the Death Eater'._ He had not been hit yet, but the ceiling behind him was destroyed. He continued to run away in flight. He had someone very important in his arms to protect.

Eventually after evading spells he found the stairs that lead into the ceiling. He assumed the passage way closed behind them after the two entered. He quickly noticed a ring pull beside the staircase and yanked it. The passage slowly opened as the Academia wizards rounded the corner, he rushed out of the small gap and quickly flew over the castle wall back into the forest. His body shifted out of its black astral form. The dark-haired man clasped the unconscious girl close to his chest and gripped his broom.

The firebolt had never flown so fast as he tried to push he skyline of Budapest far away. He re-lived the previous events in his mind. Severus never had an assassination go so wrong and worried that something would link him to the murder. He had not used any spells that would tie him to it, used untraceable methods of transport and no one had seen his face. It was technically a clean kill, yet the escape alerted everyone in the establishment. At least the old wizards had assumed he was a Death Eater, that would at least put the authorities off track and they would not think he had travelled this far to murder someone.

He held the limp body the same as he had before, holding her with one arm and steering with the other, he was struggling to stay awake but knew he must get her home as soon as he could. He needed to discuss these events with Dumbledore. Severus knew the man would have known about this damn rune, why else would he order the woman to go along with him on an assassination. The old man could have just told Severus to bring the staff back with him and not sent the important warlock to the fray. If she were to die the boy, Harry Potter, would never be able to kill Voldemort.

He flew so swiftly that he cut a whole hour of the trip. By the time he had landed back into the Astronomy Tower the sun had made the sky become slightly lighter in the early morning. He had been awake almost an entire twenty-four hours and the fatigue was swallowing him. He stepped off his broom and held her in his arms as he enchanted the firebolt to follow him down the stairs.

Luckily no students were up this early and he made it cleanly to her quarters, surprisingly the door opened at his presence or perhaps it was because its owner was limp in his arms. He entered and left his broom just inside the door, perhaps she would use it more than he would. He decided to leave the broom there for her. Now that he flew unaided, he never used the blasted broom anyway.

Severus walked over to her freshly made bed and laid her on it, pulled the sheets back and then pulled the blankets back over. He wanted to confront the Headmaster about the endangerment he had put the woman in but decided that he did not want to leave her. He wanted to know that she was okay. He wanted to be there for his friend when she woke up, something no one had done for him when the marauders knocked him out multiple times. Not even Lily would care that much about him when they were friends in younger years. His young love, Lily, still held the strongest place in his heart, though he would never admit it, but a small part of his heart was starting to shift toward Nazaire. Previously he would forgive Lily for anything she did, but something small within him stirred, it made him question if his devotion to Lily was worth it. Of course, it was worth it, Lily was the pure woman he dedicated his life to.

Severus whipped out his wand and quickly produced a _Patronus_. It faltered for a second but then a deer burst forth. He spoke to the _Patronus_ quickly. "Headmaster" he was not in the mood to call Albus by his first name. "I have returned with the warlock. The mission was mostly successful, but the assassination was noticed with some reparations. She has also absorbed the rune that I assume you sent us to retrieve" The doe jumped away through the arched window, off toward the headmaster's office.

Severus looked over her static body, her chest rose and fell as she was deep in sleep. He noticed how soft her face looked while she was asleep, but he could not stare all morning. He walked over to her sitting area and noticed a bookshelf. He had not seen any of these names before, but instead noticed one laying on the side table. It was quite a small book, with a plain beige hard cover. The books sleeve had been removed and placed beside it, it's title was _The Hobbit_. It must be a muggle book he thought, and he lifted it and turned to the first page. Even though he was a half-blood, his father had never bought books or consumed any muggle media aside from the television, which was filled with boring media either about housewives or the muggle war. He thought all muggles lived dull lives just as his father did, although as he read the first few pages of this book it seemed to capture his imagination. He was surprised that the stories of the magic world were translated through the generations and had changed to become their own entirely new worlds. The next few hours passed as Severus read about hobbits and dwarves, elves and a wizard. He was amazed at the world Tolkien had created and as the Sunday sunlight trickled into the window and his friend had not yet awoken, Severus also fell asleep in the armchair.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11 – The Invisibility Rune**

 **September 22 – 1993**

Severus awoke in an unfamiliar room on a large leather arm chair, it was much more comfortable than anything he had sat on before, probably due to its excessive amount of cushion. The furnishings were minimalistic compared to the stone walls. The bed was not the usual four poster but instead looked like something a muggle would sleep in, he noticed it was empty with the bed sheets pushed to the side. He looked around to acquaint himself with this new environment and noticed he had a book on his lap. He blinked a few times and then realised where he was… more importantly, where was Nazair. His eyes flicked around the room until he looked at the other armchair in the room, there was sat the familiar woman also with her face in a book, it was titled ' _The Warlock_ ', he found this amusing.

She only looked up once she had noticed him chuckling and then he spoke. "Very ironic… that book" He pointed at her novel. She smiled and then replied herself.

"Indeed" she continued to smile at him. When she first woke up she had noticed him in the room. She had been very confused and wondered if the events that had happened the day before were just a dream, but having realised that she was still in the elegant blue dress Severus had transfigured around her she considered it fact. She still did not know how she had made it back to Hogwarts unscathed but put it down to the fact that Severus was in her room, he must have brought her home. Home. Hogwarts was definitely her home. She looked back toward the raven-haired man. "What happened last night?"

He grumbled for a moment. "After you absorbed another rune, you passed out. So, I got us out of there" he answered shortly, leaving out many details but the first fact spiked her interest.

"Wait, I absorbed another rune!" She asked with curiosity before she questioned so more. "What does it do?"

Severus paused before he spoke, should he tell her? Would Dumbledore want that? To hell with Dumbledore, he was the one that put his only friend in danger. He decided to answer. "Invisibility"

"Wow! Let me try" She closed her eyes and instantly disappeared. A disembodied voice asked. "Am I doing it?"

"Well, the fact that I cannot see you now suggests, yes." Severus waited a few moments, but the woman had not yet reappeared. He looked around the room before asking with stern eyebrows. "Are you still in here?" Silence. His concern grew but then was instantly removed when he felt a finger touch his stomach.

"Poke" She re-appeared laughing. Nazaire was surprised that his abdomen, under all of those robes, was firm with very little fat. Severus noted that her sense of humour spanned from that of a five-year-old child occasionally to a sophisticated comedic genius. It was something Lily lacked, a sense of humour. After the invasion of his abdomen he growled and gave her a stink eye, then she responded, "I was just fucking around, mate" with her thickest Australian accent before she quickly put her hands over her mouth. She had forgotten that in her whole time within the wizarding world, not one had sworn. It was something she was so used to back in Australia, swears were used regularly as nouns, adjectives, verbs and sometimes just to embellish a sentence.

Severus was shocked at her use of language, it was so guttural and raw. Something he had not come across amongst civilised people and only those wizards and witches who skulked in Knockturn Alley. But aside from the fact that it shocked him, it oddly suited her. The use of the word somehow knocked him out of his anger. He smirked and then poked her belly. "Retribution" he said shortly.

The two smiled at each other but their playful moment was interrupted by a blue figure entering the room. It shaped into a phoenix and then floated over to the two. "Severus, I will require yourself and Miss Atkinson in my office immediately. Thank you." The familiar voice of Albus Dumbledore could be heard through the blue _Patronus_. Severus' smile disappeared, and he grumbled gutturally as if he were a child being told to do a chore.

He stood with a look of defeat. "Come along" he barked. The two made their way through the castle corridors and up to the gargoyle. Again it opened without a password, Nazaire deduced that the Headmaster must have given the dark-haired man the same entry privileges as himself.

When the two entered the headmaster's familiar office they were greeted by the old man in his usual expectant position. But this time the man did not have an expression of contempt like usual, he looked like a mixture of worry and disappointment. The older wizard held a newspaper in his hand.

Nazaire could have sworn the pictures were moving, she focused closer and indeed they were moving.

The Headmaster ushered the two to his seating area by the fire and slammed the article on the table in front of Severus. The younger man looked down at the paper and sighed, he lifted the paper and squinted his eyes for a moment before retrieving a small pair of glasses from his pocket and placed them his face. His eyes widened at what he read, Nazaire was interested, too interested. She shuffled closer until her body was up against his side and tried to see the article for herself. Her eyes also widened as she read the headline.

 _'_ _Death Eater strike in Budapest, Lathatlan Murdered'_

Below the article was another bolded title.

 _'_ _Lathatlan, Fount to be Death Eater. Revenge killing'_

Severus was the first to speak. "This was the minor inconvenience I had mentioned" Se stated as he passed the paper to Nazaire. "Conveniently the authorities are now looking for local Death Eaters after revenge against that cannibal"

The old man's face became grimmer. "This does not excuse the destruction of a prestigious University, if this finds its way back to you I will not be able to protect you, son" The old mans face softened. Nazaire almost missed the title Dumbledore had given his professor. Did the old man think of Severus as his son?

The raven-haired man spoke again. "Evidently, I was not the one to destroy their halls" Snidely he responded. "They will not tie it down to me, I ensured I left no traces. Besides, it was the warlock who does not know how to infiltrate and assassinate" He implored with a smug look as if to annoy the old wizard and Nazaire.

"That may be so, Severus. But this is where the rune comes in." He turned from the raven-haired man to the fidgeting woman. "I should have told you this sooner, but alas, there is information that I myself do not know fully yet." He gave her a look of apology. "As you may know, I have suspicions that the Dark Lord is attempting to revive himself. Not until last year did I realise what he was doing to remain alive, until Mr Potter brought me this journal at the end of last year." Dumbledore walked to his desk as he spoke and withdrew a black book with a cavernous hole in the centre. "He is using his memories to survive. I thought that once this book was destroyed his presence would disappear, but Harry continues to have pains in his scar and so does Severus from his Dark Mark." He spoke but was promptly interrupted by Nazaire who had now perked with interest.

"Sir, what is a Dark Mark?" She asked looking toward Albus but shifted her gaze as she noticed Severus shift. The man pulled his left sleeve swiftly, revealing the black snake tattoo she had seen on his body in her dream.

"This is a Dark Mark" Severus spoke with venom in his tone. "It is the claim the Dark Lord has over his servants" He spat the sour words and then quickly pulled his sleeve down again with a flick.

Albus spoke up again to continue his explanation. His voice was much less grim. "That is when you came to us, dear. These items that the dark lord must be using are also imbued with the same runes you can absorb. Here, in the centre of the journal was a rune but it has been destroyed and sent to a new place of hiding. Voldemort was also interested in tampering with the rune of eternal life, the Philosophers Stone, which was hidden in this castle the year before last. This rune has also been destroyed and found its own new location in the world." The old man paced closer to the two and sat again in front of Nazaire. "This is where you come in, if you had been here I would have had you store those runes within yourself…" He looked ashamed now while he spoke again. "I want to use you as a sort of storage unit, to remove the readily available runes from Voldemort's grasp, so he cannot utilise them himself" Nazaire again interrupted.

"Does this mean that Voldemort is also a warlock?" She asked as Severus' face changed from nonchalant to a deep shade of concern. He did not even think to ask this, if the Dark Lord was, he would be much more powerful than Severus thought.

Albus answered quickly. "Do not worry so much, I do not think he is. He was born of wizard blood, being an ancestor of Salazar Slytherin. If the diary still had the rune within it prior to its destruction, that means he did not absorb it. I think he did something to the rune. He was able to absorb its abilities without absorbing the rune itself and making it act like a life preserver. I do not know how many of these he has claimed."

Severus then spoke. "Headmaster, if he was able to access its abilities what would this rune have been?" He motioned toward the diary.

"I would think something similar to _Veritaserum_ , the diary had caused Miss Weasley to tell it her deepest secrets" He looked between Severus to Nazaire. "I have a suspicion that he has many of the darkest runes already. His uncanny abilities to torture, control and inflict pain show just how powerful these runes can make his abilities." He then looked at Nazaire with his piercing blue eyes. "Nazaire, you will continue to retrieve runes for me." He turned to Severus. "Severus, you will go along on these missions and do not worry about her ' _blowing your cover'_ , she can now disappear into thin air" He spoke with knowledge and cunning as if he were still planning for the future. "You are both dismissed."

The two stood and headed for the door but just as Severus' hand grasped its handle the old man spoke again. "Oh, I forgot to mention I won't be here tomorrow. Nazaire, apologies for me missing your birthday." Nazaire was shocked, she had no idea how the man knew what day her birthday was, she herself had forgotten it was even coming close. Severus' was also shocked. The woman had not mentioned it was her birthday tomorrow. He felt a little betrayed but that passed as he realised the woman must feel the same way he does about the blasted holiday, a strong want to avoid it. But a thought had crossed his mind quickly, she was his friend, he felt obliged to honour that connection with a gift. But what would he give her?

The two had parted ways after they had left the Headmasters office that afternoon. Nazaire had decided to spend the afternoon talking to Hagrid about magical creatures and ask him all about the dragon she had seen in the Swiss Alps. He had told her that it was a Swedish Short-Snout.

"Ye know, they make blue fire" He responded after a sip of tea from his oversized mug.

Her jaw dropped, and eyes widened. "What?"

"Yea', from their nose" He was unphased by her surprise as if this fact was widely known.

"Wow, I wish I could have seen your dragon" she always enjoyed chatting with Hagrid, at first, she thought he was _over emphasising_ these magical beasts but after coming into contact with two so far, she knew he was just telling the facts.

Hagrid looked sad for a second. "Yeah, little Norby is back with his family in Romania. I wonder if he remembers me." He spoke as if he had lost a part of his family. He seemed to have a strong connection to all of the magical beasts that he had owned.

The two continued to talk for a few hours until dinner time was close and made their way to the hall full of children. As soon as Nazaire entered the room a section of the Gryffindor table started to become a sea of laughter. Fred and George amongst the group were being nudged by their house mate's elbows and fingers pointed toward the young professor. She still could not tell the two apart, but one turned around and gave a wide smile toward Nazaire, he then formed his hands into a heart and sent a newly learned glyph from them. His hands started to produce hearts. Quickly the other brother joined in with the display of affection. She sent them both a stern glare.

These two boys had been the bane of her existence since starting at this school. Every lesson for the past three weeks of term had been filled with them requesting some of the most ridiculous glyphs, they had caught onto the subject fast, but left the room last lesson in a cloud of black smoke after failed attempts learning how to produce fireworks. The two boys had also regularly suggested highly inappropriate requests of her, most involving the three of them in an unsavoury act. Their affections for her seemed to grow, but luckily, she noticed that the two of them would do this to multiple girls around the school as well. Sadly no one shared the affections back. Often calling them the _ginger menaces._

Hagrid started to chuckle as the two walked past the group of fifth year boys. "Those two seem t' 'ave taken a likin' to ye" He rested his large hand on her shoulder for assurance.

The two professors eventually made their way to the long head table. Nazaire sat in her usual spot next to the potions master, however tonight his chair was empty and remained that way through the whole feast. Naz wondered where he was and what he was doing, perhaps he had joined Dumbledore on his journey away from the school. She decided that that was most likely the case.

Severus however, was back in the dungeons concocting a specifically difficult brew. He had this cauldron simmering away in his private brewing station for close to six months and now that he had sometime to think about a purpose for this potion, he finally knew what to do with it. He decided tonight would be when he would complete the final steps.

He had wanted to invite Nazaire to help him complete this potion but even he found these final steps so hard and specific that it would need hit entire concentration to complete it successfully. The second reason he now did not invite her to join him was that this potion would be his gift to her. He decided that buying a present would be unthoughtful so instead he would give her something that shows his dedication to his craft and therefore to their friendship.

The cauldron bubbled away happily with a very small amount of dirty yellow liquid at the bottom. The walls of the cauldron were covered in rings of dried colour where the potion had once been up to before boiling away over the past months. Severus was extremely careful when stirring as to not bump any of these rings into the concoction in the bottom.

He finally added the last ingredient a sprinkle of common rue. After this had been added he stirred vigorously, ensuring all of the precipitate from the bottom of the cauldron and the rings on the sides of the cauldron were disturbed and entered the liquid. He left it for a moment to boil and then removed the heat.

The potion was almost complete, it had one final step. The raven-haired man withdrew his wand and spoke over the pot. " _Felixempra_ " as the word left his mouth the potion instantly turned from its yellow colour to a golden hue and small amounts of it started to leap up and land back into the liquid, not spilling a single drop. He quickly bottled what he could into a tiny vial. As usual, only one vial was made from this cauldron. Inside the little bottle the surface moved about merrily. Again he had made it perfectly.

Severus then placed the potion into a little chest on his office desk, he closed the lid and it made a small locking noise. He then continued working on other potions for the school's infirmary while trying to decide how he would go about giving his best and only friend her present tomorrow. Would he get it sent to her first thing in the morning? Would he send it up to her with his owl, Rabe? He decided finally that he would give it to her in person at some point during the day. Although he knew he would not be able to wait, it would be first thing in the morning… after he was sure she would be awake. Perhaps he would utilise their connected rooms via the floo.

 **September 23 – 1993**

Nazaire woke that morning to the sound of a loud pop. She looked around for where the noise had originated before a little voice spoke beside her bed.

"Hello Miss, I brought you breakfast, Dumbledore's orders" Nazaire jumped clutching the bed sheets over her body to cover her bare legs and lack of a bra/corset under her night shirt. She looked again until her eyes adjusted to the morning light. Tibby the house elf was placing a tray on her bed side table. He had noticed her shock and spoke again before leaving in another pop. "Happy Birthday Miss."

She looked over at the tray which held a bacon and egg roll with béarnaise sauce on it. It had been one of her favourite foods from the Hogwarts breakfast feasts and she had eaten it daily. There was also a coffee and some biscuits.

She pulled herself out of bed and put some clothes on for the day before grasping the tray of food and making her way to the seating area to read for a while. But as she made her way there she noticed something strange on the table, it had two small presents sat in the middle. Who would get her gifts she thought?

She placed the food down and grasped the first. It was oddly shaped and wrapped in brown paper. She looked at the small card attached. In broken English she translated that it said. _From Hagrid, Happy Birthday._ She ripped the gift wrapping open and found a wooden carving of a dragon, instantly it started to move as if brought to life by her touch. The little dragon started to breath blue fire from its nostrils and acted like a candle. It was a sweet little gift.

The second was much more neatly wrapped, but much smaller. The card attached said it was from Dumbledore. This present she did not rip open but pulled the bow from one end and it unravelled in front of her eyes to reveal a little green velvet box. She lifted the top open and inside was a ring. It was made of silver and was quite intricate. The sides were thick and were like a lattice of silver runes that made their way around the band. She recognised some of the symbols to be that of snakes, cunning and ambition. This must have been a Slytherin inspired ring. At the top was a small emerald. She placed the ring around her finger, it was slightly loo large but swiftly shrunk to the perfect size.

She was so grateful for the two gifts she had received from two of her three only friends. Thinking of the third, who she would suppose was her best friend. She wondered where the man was last night and if he was indeed also away with Dumbledore.

She then started to eat the breakfast before opening up a book to read for the rest of the morning until she would be needed to go to classes.

In that moment Severus sent himself through the floo. He appeared in front of Naz, giving her quite a shock, she almost dropped her book.

"Good Morning" Severus spoke as he crossed the room to sit opposite of Nazaire.

Naz stared at him for a moment, confused at his intrusion. But she could not be angry at him, his face seemed to sooth her after she knew he was devoted to protecting her and proved it the day prior. "What are you doing here?" she spoke with curiosity but also a hint of thanks. She actually did want to spend time with him, he attracted her easily and even though he was cold and hard to others he seemed to be opening up to her.

"Well… I.. I thought that… um… here" He stumbled over his words for a while before he produced a tiny golden potion from his pocket. "Happy Birthday" He said with sincerity.

She grasped the tiny bottle and looked at it closely. She crossed her eyebrows for a moment and then looked back at him with an expression of awe. "Is this… Liquid Luck? How did you get this?" She asked as if the answer was not obvious.

Severus broke the eye contact and looked down nervously as if he were a boy with a crush before he mumbled. "I made it for you" and then looked back up for her response.

"Aww, come on Sev. You would have been making this since before we knew each other, I can't take this, what was it really for?" she asked with intention.

He thought over his words for a moment and then replied. "It was meant to be for myself, but I implore that you should have it. I don't need it any more for its original use. I had started to make it when I was sure that the Dark Lord would return, I was going to use it to escape the vow I made with Dumbledore, but I now have a more important purpose and must remain in this war until the end."

She was shocked at his response, she did not realise that the man wanted to be out of this war. Her compassion for his cause deepened. She smiled at the man and lifted herself out of the armchair, walked around the central table and then stood in front of Severus. He looked up at her eyes, his became dark as the pupils dilated. She was so close to him, and as she towered over him it made him feel small. It was a strange feeling he had not felt before. Usually he was the one to dominate over others, but her presence was enticing. He was not sure what she was about to do, but it happened in an instant. She had given him a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you, Severus," she spoke with sincerity. "This is one of the best gifts anyone has given me"

He could still feel the warm spot her lips had just been. This was a first for him, he blushed slightly. No one had kissed him before, not even Lily. He realised now that there had been a lot of firsts with his new friend. It surprised him that she was not disgusted by him. She mustn't be he thought, so much so that she would give him, the greasy dungeon master, a peck on the cheek. He did not think anything more of it though, he did not want to get his hopes up and develop unreciprocated feelings again for another woman who would probably just ignore him and peruse another man.

Nazaire was so shocked that people had actually given her gifts, she was not used to it. The only birthday gifts she had receive in the past were sample drugs; some pingers and a few tabs of acid. But this gift Severus had given her was so thoughtful, it was a very hard potion to concoct and it was something he had made to save himself and yet given it to her. It was such a thoughtful gift that she had given him a little kiss on the cheek to say thanks. Although she did not expect any feelings in return, that kiss was the moment she realised that she really did like this guy more than a friend, and not just for his physical appearance but for the heart underneath the cold exterior.

Severus wanted this woman.

Nazaire wanted this man.

But neither expected the other to want them in return.


End file.
